The Physics behind Turning

The physics behind sports car racing are partially determined by their engines and aerodynamics, but just because they can move, doesn’t mean they’ll finish the race!

 

            There are many other forces and variables that are involved in the physics of racing. If a car turns to sharp on a flat turn, what will happen? What if a super (a super being an inward or outward sloping turn) was banked in such a way the driver could crash? What precautions would the driver have to take? How fast can he go in a turn? Can he speed on in the middle of turn and be safe? All these questions can be answered by physics!

 

Description: uploaded image

(A freed body diagram for a car making a turn on a sloped bank)

            When a car takes a banked turn, we can obtain a lot of information from it. Such as centripetal force, as it is taking a turn on a somewhat circular part of the track. If a car is traveling too fast, now we will take into account some friction, is applying a force greater than the frictional constant, the car can skid off the track.

                        Equation for Centripetal force

                        F = mass * (velocity ^2 / radius)

 

            Now from the previous statement, we can conclude two things.

1.      The car can go a maximum speed where its centripetal force is not greater than the frictional constant of friction.

2.      The maximum speed is determined by the angle of the bank.

 

We know now that the driver can only go a maximum speed in a sloped turn, that would mean the driver would have to decelerate as he or she is going into the turn and then speed up again going out of it. Also note, that once

the driver comes out of the turn, centripetal force is zero, because they aren’t following a circular motion (the radius is zero). So the car can speed up without worry through the straight away.

 

 

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