The Average Speed of a Helicopter Blade Tip
What is the average speed of the blade tip in the helicopter's frame of reference?
A helicopter blade spins at exactly 90 revolutions per minute. Its tip is 6.50 m from the center of rotation. Calculate the average speed (in m/s) of the blade tip in the helicopter's frame of reference.
Answer:
The average speed of the blade tip in the helicopter's frame of reference is around 61.36 m/s.
When calculating the average speed of the blade tip in a helicopter's frame of reference, we need to consider the revolution per minute and the distance of the tip from the center of rotation.
First, we can calculate the circumference of the circle that the tip of the blade moves in using the formula 2*pi*r, where r is the distance from the center of rotation to the tip of the blade (6.5m).
Next, we convert the 90 revolutions per minute to revolutions per second since we need the speed in m/s. By doing this conversion, we get 1.5 revolutions per second.
Since one revolution is equivalent to the circumference of the circle, the average speed is calculated by multiplying 1.5 by the circumference in meters per second. Therefore, the average speed is approximately 61.36 m/s.