The Ideal Speed and the Minimum Coefficient of Friction in Icy Mountain Roads

Problem:

Solution:

Part A

The formula for an ideally banked curve is

\tan \theta = \frac{v^2}{rg}

Solving for $v$ in terms of all the other variables, we have

v= \sqrt{rg \tan \theta}

For this problem, we are given

Substituting all these values in the formula, we have

\begin{align*} v & = \sqrt{rg \tan \theta} \\ v & = \sqrt{\left( 100\ \text{m} \right)\left( 9.81\ \text{m/s}^2 \right)\tan 15.0^\circ }\\ v & = 16.2129\ \text{m/s} \\ v & = 16.2\ \text{m/s} \ \qquad \ \color{DarkOrange} \left( \text{Answer} \right) \end{align*}

Part B

Let us draw the free-body diagram of the car.

Summing forces in the vertical direction, we have

N \cos \theta + f \sin \theta -w= 0 \quad \quad \quad \color{Blue} \text{Equation 1}

Summing forces in the horizontal directions taking to the left as the positive since the centripetal force is directed this way, we have

N \sin \theta - f \cos \theta = F_c \quad \quad \quad \color{Blue} \text{Equation 2}

We are given the following quantities:

We now use equation 1 to solve for N in terms of the other variables.

\begin{align*} N \cos \theta + f \sin \theta -w & = 0 \\ N \cos \theta +\mu_s N\sin \theta & = mg \\ N \left( \cos \theta + \mu_s \sin\theta \right) & =mg \\ N & = \frac{mg}{\cos \theta + \mu_s \sin\theta} \ \qquad \ \color{Blue} \left( \text{Equation 3} \right) \end{align*}

We also solve for N in equation 2.

\begin{align*} N \sin \theta - \mu_s N \cos \theta & = m \frac{v^2}{r} \\ N \left( \sin \theta-\mu_s \cos \theta \right) & = m \frac{v^2}{r} \\ N & = \frac{mv^2}{r \left( \sin \theta-\mu_s \cos \theta \right)} \ \qquad \ \color{Blue} \left( \text{Equation 4} \right) \end{align*}

Now, we have two equations of $N$ . We now equate these two equations.

\frac{mg}{\cos \theta + \mu_s \sin\theta} = \frac{mv^2}{r \left( \sin \theta-\mu_s \cos \theta \right)}

We can now use this equation to solve for $\mu_s$ .

\begin{align*} \frac{\bcancel{m}g}{\cos \theta + \mu_s \sin\theta} & = \frac{\bcancel{m}v^2}{r \left( \sin \theta-\mu_s \cos \theta \right)} \\ rg\left( \sin \theta-\mu_s \cos \theta \right) & = v^2 \left( \cos \theta + \mu_s \sin\theta \right) \\ rg \sin \theta - \mu_s rg \cos \theta & = v^2 \cos \theta +\mu_s v^2 \sin \theta \\ \mu_s v^2 \sin \theta + \mu _s rg \cos \theta & = rg \sin \theta - v^2 \cos \theta \\ \mu _s \left( v^2 \sin \theta + rg \cos \theta \right) & = rg \sin \theta - v^2 \cos \theta \\ \mu _s & = \frac{rg \sin \theta - v^2 \cos \theta}{v^2 \sin \theta + rg \cos \theta} \end{align*}

Now that we have an equation for $\mu_s$ , we can substitute the given values.

\begin{align*} \mu _s & = \frac{rg \sin \theta - v^2 \cos \theta}{v^2 \sin \theta + rg \cos \theta} \\ \mu_s & = \frac{100\ \text{m}(9.81\ \text{m/s}^2) \sin 15.0^\circ -\left( 5.5556\ \text{m/s} \right)^2 \cos 15.0^\circ }{\left( 5.5556\ \text{m/s} \right)^2 \sin 15.0^\circ +100\ \text{m}\left( 9.81\ \text{m/s}^2 \right) \cos 15.0^\circ } \\ \mu_s & = 0.2345 \ \qquad \ \color{DarkOrange} \left( \text{Answer} \right) \end{align*}