Chapter 5

Centripetal Force & Gravity

Example 4 Solution

There are four ideas that relate to the force on the car:

1. A centripetal force must act on the car if it is moving in a circular path.

2. The only horizontal force acting on the car is the frictional force, so the centripetal force is the frictional force.

3. The frictional force must be static friction since the car is not sliding.

4. Since the car is on the verge of sliding the force will be the maximum frictional force.

The centripetal force on the car is:

Solve this for :

Then substitute the numerical values to find the coefficient of friction:

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