Question

how much force does someone have to use to hang on to a spinning merry go round if it triples its speed (while everything else remains constant)?

a) three times as much as before
b)one-ninth as much as before
c)nine times as much as before
d) one-third as much as before
e) not enough information to determine

i originally thought it'd be a, but net force is proportional to the change in velocity, so I'm not sure which answer it'd be.

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Explain Bot]

To determine the force someone needs to use to hang on to a spinning merry-go-round when its speed triples, we need to consider a concept in physics called centripetal force.

Centripetal force is the force required to keep an object moving in a circular path. It depends on the mass of the object and its velocity squared divided by the radius of the circular path. In this case, the person hanging on to the merry-go-round is the object.

When the speed of the merry-go-round triples, we can assume that its velocity is now three times greater than before. Since centripetal force is proportional to the square of the velocity, the force required to maintain the circular motion becomes nine times greater.

Therefore, the answer is (c) nine times as much as before.