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What is the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration of a car following a curve of radius 500 m at a speed of 25.0 m/s?
A12.5 m/s^2
B0.0500 m/s^2
C1.25 m/s^2
D625 m/s^2
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. 1.25 m/s^2
1. Centripetal acceleration is ac = v^2 / r.
2. Substituting the given values, ac = (25.0 m/s)^2 / 500 m.
3. Squaring the speed gives 625 m^2/s^2, and dividing by 500 m gives ac = 1.25 m/s^2.
4. 625 m/s^2 is the squared speed left undivided by the radius, and 12.5 m/s^2 and 0.0500 m/s^2 come from dividing by the wrong power of the radius or speed.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Uniform Circular Motion and Gravitation", section 6.2 Centripetal Acceleration_
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