4.31 A cyclist is riding with a speed of 27 km/h. As he approaches a circular turn on the road of radius  80 m, he applies brakes and reduces his speed at the constant rate of 0.50 m/s every second. What is the magnitude and direction of the net acceleration of the cyclist on the circular turn?

 

NEETprep Answer:
 

Speed of the cyclist, v = 27 km/h = 7.5 m/s

Radius of the circular turn, r = 80 m

Centripetal acceleration is given as:

ac = v2r
= 7.5280 = 0.7 m/s2

The situation is shown in the given figure:

Suppose the cyclist begins cycling from point P and moves toward point Q. At point Q, he applies the breaks and decelerates the speed of the bicycle by 0.5 m/s2 .

This acceleration is along the tangent at Q and opposite to the direction of the motion of the cyclist.

Since the angle between is 90°, the resultant acceleration a is given by:

a = ac2 + ar2
= 0.72 + 0.52
= 0.74 = 0.86 m/s2
tan θ = acar

Where θ is the angle of the resultant with the direction of velocity

tan θ = 0.70.5 = 1.4
θ = tan-11.4 = 54.46°