Get premium membership and access revision papers with marking schemes, video lessons and live classes.

Processing. Please wait.

(a) State two ways in which the centripetal force on a body of mass m can be increased.
(b) Figure 7 shows an object at the end of a light spring balance connected to a peg using a string. The object is moving in a circular path on a smooth horizontal table with a constant speed.

(i) State what provides the centripetal force.
(ii) Indicate with an arrow on the figure the direction of the centripetal force.
(iii) State a reason why the object is accelerating while its speed remains constant.
(iv) Given that the mass of the object is 0.5 kg and it is moving at a speed of 8 m/s at a radius of 2m, determine the reading on the spring balance.
(KCSE 2013 paper 1 question 14 (a) and (b))

Answer Text:
a).-Increasing the speed of rotation of the mass m.
-Reducing the radius of the circular path.
b).i) Tension in the spring supporting the object.
ii).

iii).There’s change in the direction of instantaneous velocity at various points along the circular path.
iv).Reading of the spring = centripetal force =#(m times v times v)/r = (0.5 times 8 times 8)/2 = 16N#