This problem is one I was faced with on a Physics test awhile ago.

I remember
doing this problem and was a little taken back at first, but was surprisingly simple.
Here's the problem: An amusement park ride consists of a large vertical cylinder
that spins about its axis such that any person inside is held up against the wall
when the floor drops away provided that the cylinder spins fast enough. If the
radius of the cylinder is 4 meters and the coefficient of static friction between the
person and the wall is .400, find the maximum period of revolution (Tmax) needed
to keep the person from falling. The first step in tackling problems like these is to
draw a Free Body Diagram. In a Free Body Diagram, you should label all the
forces acting on the object in question (in this case the person against the wall)
Now how can we represent this mathematically? When considering all forces
acting on an object Fnet = ΣF This states that the Total Force is just the sum of all
of the forces acting upon the object in it's specified direction. We will look at this
for Fnetx and Fnety That is the Net force in the x and y direction respectively.

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that Fnet=manet

So anet depends on what Fnet is applied to it.

Using this we can now rewrite our summation of forces in the x and y direction
to...
ΣFx=max
and
ΣFy=may
That is the Sum of the Forces in the x direction is equal to the mass times the
acceleration in the x direction, and the sum of the forces in the y direction is
equal to the mass time the acceleration in the y direction respectively.

Now that we have this much we can refer back to our free body diagram.
The Forces acting in the y direction, are µs(static friction) and fg(the force of
gravity).
The Forces acting in the x direction is simply N(the normal force that the wall
applies to the body.
However here we have a particular case, The Forces in the x direction is in a
radial direction, since the cylinder is spinning. this means that sum of forces in
the x direction is equal to the sum of forces in the radial direction.
ΣFx=ΣFr
and where
ΣFr=mar
What we must remember is that Acceleration in the radial direction is defined by
the equation
ar=4π2r/T2
where T is the period of revolution.

Now we can start solving...

ΣFy=may
We want to find the forces acting in the Y direction, However we know that the
person does not move up and down(if they did they would fall off the ride), So the
acceleration in the y-direction is 0.
so..
ΣFy=0
We also know that only the force of static friction and gravity work in the y-
direction.
so..
fs-fg=0
We must write this equation this way because the forces of gravity works
downward, or in the NEGATIVE direction, where as the force of static friction is
directed upward.
Further simplifying gives us
fs=fg
We also know that fs=µN
and that
fg=mg(mass times force of gravity) where g=9.8
SO EVEN FURTHER SIMPLIFYING THE EQUATION we get...
µN=mg (for forces in the y direction)
Our goal was to define N, since this value is used in the forces in the x direction.
so...
N=mg/µ
We use almost the same technique for the forces in the x-direction
remember!
ΣFx=ΣFr
and

ΣFr=mar
where

ar=4π2r/T2
We know that the only force acting in the x-direction is The Normal Force (N)

so

N=
mar
Now we Solve...

N=m*4π2r/T2
mg/µ=m*4π2r/T2
g/µ=4π2r/T2
9.8/.400=4π2(4)/T2
T2=4π2(4)*.400/9.8

T2=6.4454

T=2.538 is the maximum period of revolution