Suppose you are driving a car around in a circle of radius 157 ft, at a velocity which has the constant magnitude of 42 ft/s. A string hangs from the ceiling of the car with a mass of 1.8 kg suspended from it. What angle (in degrees) will the string make with the vertical?

Answer 1

The string will make an angle defined by

tanTheta=centacceleration/mg

Put in the value for centripetal acceleration, and solve. g= 32ft/s^2. You don't have to convert mass to lb, it divides out.