if a wheel with a radius of 1.5 m spins at a uniform speed?

Question

If a point on the wheelhas a centripetal acceleration of 1.2 m/s^2, what is the point's tangential speed?

Answer 1

acceleration = w^2*r

r=1.5 m

w^2=a/r=1.2/1.5 (rad/sec)^2=0.8
w= .894 ras/sec

velocity = wr=.894*1.5= 1.34 m/s

Answer 2

a = v^2/R; where v = tangential velocity and R is the radius from the axis to the point where the tangential velocity is found. So if you're looking for v at R = 1.5 m (the rim), and a = 1.2 m/sec^2 at that point, just solve for v = sqrt(aR); you can do the math.