A pilot flies his plain in a vertical loop with a radius of 500m.

Question

a) what is the speed of the aircraft if the pilot is 'weightless' at the top of the loop?

b)what is the weight of the pilot at the bottom of the loop if speed is the same and the pilot is 80kg?

Answer 1

the centripetal acceleration is
... v^2 / r

a) v^2 / r = g
... v^2 = 500 m * 9.8 m/s^2

b) his weight will be twice normal
... w = 2 * 80 * g