Question

A honey bee flies in circles around a flower. If the velocity of the bee is 670 cm/s and the radius of the circular path is 2.0 cm, what is the centripetal acceleration of the honey bee?

Answer 1

your answer is 224,450 cm/s2

Step-by-step explanation:

when you convert it from meters to centimeters

Answer 2

Centripetal acceleration = (speed)² / (radius)

= (6.7 m/s)² / (0.02 m)

= (44.89 m²/s²) / (0.02 m)

= (44.89 / 0.02) m/s²

= 2244.5 m/s²

= about 229 G's !


The math and physics of this solution are bullet-proof, but I have doubts
about the truth of the situation. It irritates my intuition, and causes the
seat of my pants to tingle.

-- I doubt that the delicate structure of a honey bee could endure 229 G's
of centripetal acceleration.

-- The setup says that the bee is flying at 6.7 m/s on a circular path with
a radius of 2 cm. That's 15 mph around a circle that's only about 1.6 inches
across ... or 53.3 times around the circle every second !

The calculation is correctly done, but I don't trust the given information.
I simply played the cards I was dealt.