Ah, the merry-go-round. One of the most tame, but still fun and romantic, parts of a carnival. The Punahou Carnival is something I look forward to every year, and riding the merry-go-ride is something that is on my list this year. The cool thing now is, I know all the physics of a merry go round! I know that the centripetal force (center searching) is mass multiplied by the velocity squared and then divided by the radius of the ride. I also know that the centripetal force is friction to keep all the little horses moving in a circle and not tangent to the circle. The merry-go-round cannot go too fast, though. Otherwise, the centrifugal force (center fleeing) will be too great and make the person fly tangent to the circle. Thank goodness merry-go-rounds go slowly! There are no seatbelts to keep us strapped in if it were moving too fast!
15 years ago
1 comment:
ok, actually, the horses don't stay in the circular path because of friction... they are stuck on the poles... but if you were to be standing on the platform, without holding onto anything, then yes, that'd be friction!
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