A dad pushes tangentially on a small hand-driven merry-go-round and is able to accelerate it from rest to a frequency of 16 rpm in 11.5 s. Assume the merry-go-round is a uniform disk of radius 3.0 m and has a mass of 790 kg, and two children (each with a mass of 25 kg) sit opposite each other on the edge. 1)Calculate the torque required to produce the acceleration, neglecting frictional torque. 2)What force is required at the edge? I got 1400 for the force and it was wrong.

Answer 1

Did you get the torque correct in part (1) ? It equals the angular acceleration divided by the moment of inertia, including that due to the children.
The force required at the edge equals the required torque divicded by the radius, 3.0 m.

You need to say what your units of force are. Don't just give a number.