Question 15 Marks
A person stands on a spring balance at the equator.
- By what fraction is the balance reading less than his true weight?
- If the speed of earth's rotation is increased by such an amount that the balance reading is half the true weight, what will be the length of the day in this case?
Answer
View full question & answer→When the balance reading is half, we have:$=\frac{\text{mg}-\text{m}\omega^3\text{r}}{\text{mg}}-=\frac{1}{2}$
True weight =$\Rightarrow\omega^2\text{r}=\frac{\text{g}}{2}$
$\Rightarrow\omega=\sqrt{\frac{\text{g}}{2\text{r}}}$
$=\sqrt{\frac{12}{2\times6400\times10}}\text{rad}/\text{ s}$
$\therefore\text{Duration of the day}=2\pi\times\sqrt{\frac{2\times6400\times10^2}{9.8}}\text{s}$
$=2\pi\sqrt\frac{{6.4\times10^7}}{49}\text{s}$
$=\frac{2\pi\times8000}{7\times3600}\text{h}=2\text{h}$
True weight =$\Rightarrow\omega^2\text{r}=\frac{\text{g}}{2}$
$\Rightarrow\omega=\sqrt{\frac{\text{g}}{2\text{r}}}$
$=\sqrt{\frac{12}{2\times6400\times10}}\text{rad}/\text{ s}$
$\therefore\text{Duration of the day}=2\pi\times\sqrt{\frac{2\times6400\times10^2}{9.8}}\text{s}$
$=2\pi\sqrt\frac{{6.4\times10^7}}{49}\text{s}$
$=\frac{2\pi\times8000}{7\times3600}\text{h}=2\text{h}$

Since the motion is nonuniform, the acceleration has both radial & tangential component.
The cabin rotates with angular velocity $\omega$ & radius R


$\Rightarrow{\text{mg}\sin\theta}+\mu\text{N}=\frac{\text{m}\upsilon^2}{\text{r}}\cos\theta$
Equate Forces along road$\Rightarrow\mu\text{N}=\frac{\text{m}\upsilon^2}{\text{r}}\cos\theta=\text{mg}\sin\theta $

