Centripetal Forces Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: Gibbons, small Asian apes, move by brachiation, swinging below a handhold to move forward to the next handhold. A 9.0 kg gibbon has an arm length (hand to shoulder) of 0.60 m. We can model its motion as that of a point mass swinging at the end of a 0.60-m-long, massless rod. At the lowest point of its swing, the gibbon is moving at 3.2 m/s .What upward force must a branch provide to support the swinging gibbon?Express your answer to two significant figures and include the appropriate units.

###### FREE Expert Solution

Newton's second law:

$\overline{){\mathbf{\Sigma }}{\mathbf{F}}{\mathbf{=}}{\mathbf{m}}{\mathbf{a}}}$

Centripetal force:

$\overline{){{\mathbf{F}}}_{{\mathbf{c}}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{m}{\mathbf{v}}^{\mathbf{2}}}{\mathbf{r}}}$

a = centripetal acceleration. The net force is equal to the centripetal force.

The centripetal force acts toward the center of the circle (upward).

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###### Problem Details

Gibbons, small Asian apes, move by brachiation, swinging below a handhold to move forward to the next handhold. A 9.0 kg gibbon has an arm length (hand to shoulder) of 0.60 m. We can model its motion as that of a point mass swinging at the end of a 0.60-m-long, massless rod. At the lowest point of its swing, the gibbon is moving at 3.2 m/s .

What upward force must a branch provide to support the swinging gibbon?

Express your answer to two significant figures and include the appropriate units.