Physics problem? Plz Help?

Question

If you attach a string to a ball and begin swinging it around your head, the ball will travel in a cirlce. Lets's suppose that the ball is traveling counterclackwise, as viewed from over head.

A. Although the ball is traveling with a constant speed, it is accelerating. Which was is it accelerating?

B. In which direction is the net force on the ball?

C. Inwhich direction is the ball traveling at the moment the ball passes directly in front of you?

D. If you let go of the string at the moment the ball passes directly in front of you will the ball travel? why?

E. You feel an outward tug on the string, yet there is no outward force on the ball. The only way that the ball can tug on the string is if the string is tugging on the ball. What effect does the string's pull have on the ball if there isn't any outward force on the ball?

Answer 1

Ok, the ball is traveling counterclockwise, but it's traveling with a speed : V m/s

V = tangencial speed

centripetal acceleration = V^2 / L

where : L = lenght of the string

a) V^2 / L

for b), the direction depends on this :

The centripetal force = mass*V^2 / L

tangencial force = m*at

at = tangencial acceleration

c) when it's in front of you, is goint from the left to the right, 'cause the ball is traveling counterclockwise, that means, from left to right.

d) To the right

e)That's the centripetal force, the tension on the string is equal to the centripetal force, only in this case of course.

Hope that might help you