096 Circular Motion: Circling Nuts

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So, is the required centripetal force larger for large radius or small radius?

Careful, you better not use F=mv²/r, since the tangential speed is different for nuts at different radius for this scenario. So it is not clear whether smaller r (and smaller v) requires larger (or smaller) F.

Use F=mrω²  instead, since in this scenario, all the nuts have the same angular velocity ω. Then it becomes clear that at the same ω, the outer nuts doing circular motion with a larger r require a larger centripetal force compared to the inner nuts. Outer nuts skid first.

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In fact, if one is situated right at the middle, no centripetal force is required at all. This explains why the bean at the middle had the last laugh.

• 06 Circular Motion