For IB Diploma.

November 20, 2012

Inertia in water-in-bu ket and roller oaster motion

The understanding of two following, simple and yet important observations on pu k's behavior
is ru ial for the understanding of the water-in-bu ket and the roller oaster motion.
1. Take an airplane starting to a elerate uniformly. A passenger is holding horizontally a table
with a pu k on it. The fri tion between the table and the pu k is negligible. What is observed
is that as the airplane starts to a elerate the pu k starts to a elerate in opposite dire tion.
straight line
path of puck

TOP VIER IN EARTH

REFERENCE FRAME

fixed Earth
reference position

One may reason that sin e the pu k approa hes the passenger with a eleration there must be
(due to Newton's se ond law of motion) a for e a ting on it in the dire tion of its motion. The
explanation, however, is the following: the pu k due to its inertia does not hange its position
with respe t to the Earth, it is the passenger that a elerates towards the pu k.1

1 When

the table's rear side omes in onta t with the pu k it pushes on it giving it forward a eleration. If
there's a s ale between the table's rear side and the pu k the s ale starts to read some value whi h magnitude
depends on both the airplane's forward a eleration and the pu k's mass.

A se ond observation refers to the airplane moving with onstant speed and making a turn to
the left. The pu k now seems to move right with a eleration equal in magnitude and opposite
to the one ausing airplane's left turn.
curved path
of the passenger

straight path
of the puck

puck

frictionless
table
passenger

Similarly to previous explanation there's no for e a ting on the pu k to the right. The passenger
and the table move to the left and approa h from right side the moving along straight line pu k.2

2 When

the table's right side omes in onta t with the pu k it pushes on it to the left hanging its dire tion
of motion. If there's a s ale between the table's right side and the pu k the s ale starts to read some value whi h
magnitude depends on both the airplane's turning a eleration and the pu k's mass.

A bu ket with water

1.

In order to keep water in the bu ket when it is upside down, the

bu ket needs to be a elerated (pulled downwards) faster than what gravity
would move the water. The pulling for e downward varies with the velo ity the bu ket moves. By spinning the bu ket faster, the pull downwards is
greater.

2.

In order to
upside down, the
as fast as what
ward varies with
to be twirled at
ity.

just barely keep water in the bu ket when it is

water needs to be a elerated (pulled downwards)
gravity would move it.
The pulling for e downthe velo ity the bu ket moves.
The bu ket needs
a speed so that the pull equals the pull of grav-

3. When the water falls out of the bu ket, it is be ause the a eleration of the
water is greater than the overall a eleration of the bu ket. Gravity is a elerating the water. If swung slow enough the person's arm is resisting the fall of
the bu ket but not the fall of water. Gravity moves the water out of the bu ket.

Figure
1:
Snapshots of
water in the
bu ket.

1. When the pull on the bu ket is greater than the pull of gravity, the
water stays in the bu ket.

2. When the pull on the bu ket is equal to the pull of gravity, the water

PULL OF
GRAVITY

PULL ON
BUCKET

PULL OF
GRAVITY

PULL ON
BUCKET

PULL OF
GRAVITY

PULL ON
BUCKET

just barely stays in the bu ket.

3. When the pull on the bu ket is less than the pull of gravity, the water
falls out of the bu ket.

Figure 2: A bu ket being

swung in a ir le.

A oaster's loop

When an obje t moves in a ir le, whi h is ee tively what a roller oaster does when it travels through a loop, the moving obje t is for ed
inward toward what's alled the enter of rotation. It's this push toward
the enter  entripetal for e  that keeps an obje t moving along a urved path.
Gravity always pulls downward with the same strength (for a
given mass), and, in the ase of a roller oaster, it pulls downward on the arts wherever they are on the tra k. Near the
bottom of a loop, gravity (weight Q on gure to the right) pulls
in a dire tion away from the enter of the loop ir le. Here,
the entripetal for e, F , is the dieren e between the for e of
the tra k pushing up (normal for e3 ) and gravity pulling down
(1)

Net Force Fc
(Centripetal Force)

Figure 3: A roller oaster's art at the

bottom of the tra k.

F = N Q.

If no ir ular motion, then by denition no entripetal for e is present, F = 0, and a ording

to eq. (1) the for e N applied by the lo ally horizontal tra k equals the art's weight: N = Q.
Solving eq. (1) for normal for e gives
(2)

N = F + Q,

whi h, when substituting relevant quantities, gets the form

(3)

N=

mv 2
+ mg,
r

where r is the loop's (lo al) radius.

Thus the art (and the passenger in it!) experien es for e pushing up that is bigger the its weight
mg by the fa tor mv 2 /r; the latter in reases proportionally to the velo ity squared and inversely
proportional to the lo al radius of the loop. This should be intuitive: the faster we go at the
bottom on the loop and the smaller is the loop the more we feel pressed to the art (the more
the hypotheti al s ale between our body and the art would read).
Near the top of the loop, however, gravity, Q, and the
pushing for e of the tra k, N , both are dire ted downward and a t together to provide the entripetal for e,
F ; the for es add together (gure to the right)
(4)

F = N + Q.

To better understand the situation, put yourself in the

rider's pla e. When the roller oaster's art you're riding in hanges dire tion, your body ontinues (be ause
of its inertia ) to travel in the same dire tion it was
traveling in before the hange in dire tion. (If the art,
3 Remember

Net Force

(Centripetal Force)

Figure 4: Top position of the art.

normal for e a ting on obje t is what the s ale pla ed between a oor and the obje t reads.

tra k and gravity weren't there, you would ontinue on the tangent to the path!) As a result,
you nd yourself pressed against the seat throughout the loop  perhaps most surprisingly at
the top, when you're ompletely upside-down! If you were to observe your motion relative to the
art, however, you'd realize that the tra k is a tually pushing down on the art, and the art on
you, inward toward the enter of rotation.
The entripetal for e applied is bigger than the obje t's weight and the art pushes on the tra k
with for e N = F Q > 0. The art has speed enough to move along tra k of bigger r and it
tries to do it by pushing on the tra k with for e N . The sti tra k, however, does not allow the
art to do it and drives it through its own urved shape.
If the art is to be on the verge of falling o the tra k (i.e. the tra k barely pushes on the art)
then N = 0 and eq. (4) simplies to
(5)

2
mvtop
= mg,
r

where vtop is the minimum speed at the top of the loop required for the art to stay on it. The
entripetal for e applied is now equal to the art's weight (eq. (4) when N = 0) so that there
is no push N between the art and the tra k. It is analog to the bu ket with water des ribed in 2.
If the speed of the art's motion is smaller than vtop and all other quantities in eq. (5) stay
onstant (and they do!) then the entripetal for e is too small to provide the motion of the art
along the urve of radius r. The weight be omes dominant and pulls the art down away from
the urve of the tra k. The art looses onta t and be omes weightless. In other words, the art
does not push on the tra k anymore and so is the tra k on the art alike to the bu ket water
problem #3.
In order to apply enough entripetal a eleration the roller oaster's art has to either be traveling
very fast or the radius of the loop has to be made small. Most rides have a tall loop. A tall
loop means a big radius. The problem is, as a art goes up, it slows down. The higher it goes,
the slower it will be traveling over the top. In order to apply a entripetal for e equal to gravity
at the top, the art must be traveling extremely fast as the rider enters the loop. On some of
the early round loops, the test riders a tually had their ne ks broken as a ombination of the
sudden rise in the loop as they entered at an extremely high rate of speed. As a ompromise, the
loops today are designed around an irregular shape alled a lothoid loop or spiral of Ar himedes.
These irregular loops allow a ir ular gure whose radius hanges.

b)

a)

Figure 5: a) Irregular loops of a real roller oaster. b) Can you spot the irregular loop in these regular ir les?

A person passes
out because of
the lack of oxygen
in the brain.

3g
red out
limit

8g
black out
limit

a)

A person passes out

because of too
much blood creating
too much pressure
on the brain.

b)

Figure 6: Ee ts for the average healthy person. a) Inside loop. b) Outside loop. The g's felt is the a eleration
N

felt relative to gravity a eleration g: g s felt =

. In both ases a) and b) an oxygen arrying blood due to its
mg
inertia ontinues its motion along the tangent to the urved path; the dire tion of the blood is: in ase a) away
from person's head, in ase b) towards person's head.