The combined mass of a race car and its driver is 600 kg. Travelling at constant speed, the car completes one lap around a circular track of radius 160 m in total time of 36 s. What is the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration of the car?

The magnitude of the centripetal acceleration of the car is .

Given data:

The combined mass of race car and its driver is, m = 600 kg.

The radius of the circular track is, r = 160 m.

The time taken to cover one lap is, t = 36 s.

The velocity of the car while covering one complete lap of circular track is given as,

And the expression for the magnitude of centripetal acceleration is given as,

Thus, we can conclude that the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration of the car is .

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4.88m/s²

Explanation:

Given parameters:

 Mass of the race car and driver = 600kg

  Radius of path = 160m

   time taken  = 36s

Unknown:

Centripetal acceleration  = ?

Solution:

The centripetal acceleration is the change in velocity of a body along a circular path with time.

It is mathematically expressed as;

         a =  

v is the velocity

r  = radius of path

           v  =  

  t is the time;

   Insert the parameters and solve for the velocity;

          v  =   = 27.9m/s

Now,

         acceleration  =    = 4.88m/s²