IB Physics Centrifugal Force?
/A tutorial sheet on rotating reference frames is given below.
- "For matter in a circular orbit at radius r around a mass M the centrifugal force and the gravitational attraction balance". Is this statement correct?
- A tube containing liquid is spun about a vertical axis through one end. Where in the tube is the pressure greatest? Show that the pressure difference between the end of a straight tube of length L and its axis is ⍴⍵2L2/2, where ⍴ is the density of the fluid in the tube and ⍵ is the angular speed of the tube. The tube rotates about an axis through one end perpendicular to the tube.
- A bucket of water spins at a constant rate about an axis through its centre. Why does the water build up at the edge of the bucket? (the fluid at the edge has greatest speed, creating a pressure gradient in the fluid between the centre and the edge pushing the fluid highest at the edges, there is no centrifugal force in an inertial reference frame)
- Why does the acceleration due to gravity on the surface a planet decrease if the planet spins faster?
- A space station has a large toroidal (doughnut) shape. When it spins are objects inside the space station weightless?
- A bead is placed half-way along a smooth horizontal wire. The wire now spins about a vertical axis through one end. Why does the bead move outwards along the wire?
- In question 3 there are now two fluids in the bucket, each of different density ⍴1 and ⍴2. What is the shape of the common surface when the bucket is spun at a constant angular speed ⍵?