A honey bee flies in circles around a flower. If the velocity of the bee is 670 cm/s and the radius of the circular path is 2.0 cm, what is the centripetal acceleration of the honey bee?

Question

Physics

Carla Richmond

8 February, 21:51

A honey bee flies in circles around a flower. If the velocity of the bee is 670 cm/s and the radius of the circular path is 2.0 cm, what is the centripetal acceleration of the honey bee?

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Answers (1)

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Smiley · Answer 1

Centripetal acceleration = (speed) ² / (radius)

= (6.7 m/s) ² / (0.02 m)

= (44.89 m²/s²) / (0.02 m)

= (44.89 / 0.02) m/s²

= 2244.5 m/s²

= about 229 G's!

The math and physics of this solution are bullet-proof, but I have doubts

about the truth of the situation. It irritates my intuition, and causes the

seat of my pants to tingle.

- - I doubt that the delicate structure of a honey bee could endure 229 G's

of centripetal acceleration.

- - The setup says that the bee is flying at 6.7 m/s on a circular path with

a radius of 2 cm. That's 15 mph around a circle that's only about 1.6 inches

across ... or 53.3 times around the circle every second!

The calculation is correctly done, but I don't trust the given information.

I simply played the cards I was dealt.