Puck Acceleration on Circular Slide · CAP 2009 #15
Physics · mechanics
Problem
During the winter vacation, children use snow and water to build frictionless slides of different shapes in order to conduct various experiments. The side view of one of them is shown in the figure: the linear segment of the slide is smoothly transferred to a circle with a circumference of radius R. A puck starts sliding down from rest at an initial height of 2R. The acceleration of the puck at the lowest point of its trajectory is:
(a) g
(b) 2g
(c) 3g
(d) 4g
(e) 0