Critical Thinking A car travels around a loop with negligible friction at a constant speed and never loses contact with the loop. The top of the loop is labeled A and the bottom of the loop is labeled B.

(a) At what point would the normal force be greatest? Briefly explain your reasoning.

(b) Based on experimental data, an equation that fits the data is suggested for the normal force, FN, which may not be correct: , where K is a constant with appropriate units and r is the radius of the loop. Is this equation consistent with your answer from part a? Explain why or why not. Does this equation make sense? Explain why or why not. 

(c) Now the car travels around loops of various radii and the speed at which the car barely makes it around the loop is measured. Graph that speed vs. the radius of the loop.

Transcribed Image Text:

FN = Kr1/2