Using x,y coordinates to find the centripetal force
I am given the position of a particle that is moving in a circular motion: x = Rcos(theta) and y = Rcos(theta). R is a fixed radial distance and theta is the polar angle. How should I approach the problem to find the centripetal force, if I am not allowed to do use calculus?
Answer
With the information given it is not clear how the problem expects you to find the centripetal force. When working in polar coordinates, the most common method of obtaining the centripetal force is to use the angular velocity (change in theta with time),omega, with the radius R to obtain the centripetal force using F=m*omega^2*R. As written, the problem does not have enough information to find the centripetal force (I assume that "y=Rcos(theta)" was a typo as that should be sin instead of cos).
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With the information given it is not clear how the problem expects you to find the centripetal force. When working in polar coordinates, the most common method of obtaining the centripetal force is to use the angular velocity (change in theta with time),omega, with the radius R to obtain the centripetal force using F=m*omega^2*R. As written, the problem does not have enough information to find the centripetal force (I assume that "y=Rcos(theta)" was a typo as that should be sin instead of cos).