The rear wheel on a clown's bicycle has twice the radius of the front wheel. (a) When the bicycle is moving, is the linear speed at the very top of the rear wheel greater than, less than, or the same as that of the very top of the front wheel? (b) Is the angular speed of the rear wheel greater than, less than, or the same as that of the front wheel?

Question

Amirah Choi

Physics

20 December, 06:56

The rear wheel on a clown's bicycle has twice the radius of the front wheel. (a) When the bicycle is moving, is the linear speed at the very top of the rear wheel greater than, less than, or the same as that of the very top of the front wheel? (b) Is the angular speed of the rear wheel greater than, less than, or the same as that of the front wheel?

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Answers (1)

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Dax Campbell · Answer 1

a). same as

b). less than

Explanation:

a). When a bicycle is moving, the linear speed at the top of the rear wheel is same as the linear speed at the top of the front wheel. Since the clown's bicycle is a rigid body, both the wheels that is the front wheel and the rear wheel will move with the same linear speed.

b). Since we know that angular speed varies inversely to the radius of the wheel.

That is ω = 1 / r

Since the rear wheel has twice the radius of that of the front wheel, therefore real wheel will have less angular speed than the front wheel.

Therefore, the angular speed of the rear wheel is less than the angular speed of the front wheel.