Bicycle wheel with gear rotation · PhysicsBowl 2019 #30
Physics · mechanics
Problem
[Figure: Bicycle wheel with attached gear, showing 60 cm diameter wheel and 4.0 cm radius gear]
Consider the bicycle wheel shown at the right to be a ring with a 60 cm diameter and a mass of 1.5 kg. Attached to the wheel is a gear with a radius of 4.0 cm and negligible mass. A force of 20 N is applied tangentially to the gear for 4.0 s. Starting from rest, what linear speed does the wheel achieve, assuming it rolls without slipping?
(A) 3.0 m/s
(B) 5.9 m/s
(C) 7.1 m/s
(D) 16.4 m/s
(E) 24 m/s