PhysicsLAB: Test Scenario: Vertical Circular Track

This scenario was based on the Advanced Placement C-Mechanics essay 1989 C1.

Refer to the following information for the next nine questions.

A small block of mass 0.15 kg is placed at a height h meters above the bottom of a track, as illustrated in the figure below. It is then released from rest and slides with negligible friction down the track, around the inside of the loop of radius 0.60 meters, and leaves the track at point C at a height 0.60 meters above the bottom of the track. Its speed as it passes through point B is 5 m/sec.

(a) On the figure below, draw and label the forces (not components) that act on the block after it has completed the loop-the-loop and is passing through point B.

(b) Determine the height h from which it was released.

(d) How far horizontally from the edge of the track, that is, point C, will the block strike the table?

(e) On the figure below, draw and label the forces (not components) that acted on the block as it passed through top of the loop.

(f) Calculate the magnitude of the force acting on the block in part (e).

(f) Calculate the minimum speed the block can have as it passes through the top of the circle without losing contact with the track.

(f) Calculate the minimum height (h_min) above the bottom of the track at which the block could be released and still go around the loop without losing contact with the track.

(g) If the apparatus had even a minimum amount of friction present, would the block have made it through the top of the vertical circle?