Question

A bicycle is turned upside down while its owner repairs a flat tire. A friend spins the other wheel and observes that drops of water fly off tangentially. She measures the heights reached by drops moving vertically. A drop that breaks loose from the tire on one turn rises vertically 54.0 cm above the tangent point. A drop that breaks loose on the next turn rises 51.0 cm above the tangent point. The radius of the wheel is 0.331 m.

Please help, this is not for homework but for extra credit and it is the last one I have remaining on the handout.

Answer 1

Neglecting air friction and using only the observed heights and the radius of the wheel, find the wheel's angular acceleration (assuming it to be constant).

Answer 2

See
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1259306687
as an example.
Post your answer for a check if you wish.