Q30S - Centripetal force
A theme park attraction
‘Vertigo’ is a new theme park attraction. In groups of three, passengers are suspended by inextensible steel wires from a giant arch. They are winched to the top of a tower, and released to swing until the end of the ride.

1.	A typical group of three passengers has a combined mass of 200 kg.  Calculate the potential energy they gain as they are winched to their maximum height of 45 m at A (assume g = 9.8 N kg-1).

2.	Show that their speed at the bottom B of their first swing is about 30 m s–1. State any assumptions you make.

3.	The radius of the arc followed by the passengers is 50 m.   Calculate the centripetal acceleration of the passengers at the instant they are at B. 

4.	Show that the vertical force exerted on the passengers by the suspension wires as the passengers pass through B is more than 2.5 times the passengers’ weight. Neglect the weight of the wires.