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The Physics Teacher -- December 2011 -- Volume 49, Issue 9, pp. 570

Jogging on a Carousel

Alpha E. Wilson

Port Saint Lucie, FL

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To jog around the periphery of a carousel at rest requires that the jogger experience a constant state of acceleration perpendicular to the direction of motion and directed toward the axis of rotation (centripetal). The jogger could achieve this centripetal acceleration by leaning inward, thereby using a horizontal weight component to provide the necessary centripetal force. There are two ordinary cases of circular motion involving the carousel that can be handled by the simple centripetal acceleration formula, where the joggers speed v is squared and then divided by the radius r of the path being followed (a = v2/r). One case would be as above, with the carousel at rest and the jogger moving on a circular path around it. The other case would be the jogger at rest on the carousel at a radial point r while it is moving with linear speed v. The situation can be made significantly more interesting and informative by letting the jogger be in motion while the carousel is in motion.

© 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

acceleration, biomechanics, Coriolis force, physics education, teaching

PACS

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0031-921X (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3661105

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