Question

A ferris wheel has radius 5.0 m and makes one revolution in 8.0 seconds. a person weighing 670 n is sitting on one of the benches attached at the rim of the wheel. what is the apparent weight (the the normal force exerted on her by the bench) of the person as she passes through the highest point of her motion

Answer 1

The structure of the ferris wheel is accelerating the bench downward at ...

`\displaystyle r\left((2\pi)/(T)\right)^(2)=(5\, m)((2\pi)^(2))/((8.0\, s)^(2))=(5\pi^(2))/(16)\,m\,s^(-2)\approx 3.084\,m\,s^(-2)`

This is about 3.084/9.8 times the acceleration of gravity, so the person's apparent weight is reduced by that fraction, to about ...

`(670\, N)\left(1-(3.084)/(9.8)\right)\approx 459\,N`