Wolfram Demonstrations Project

A car of mass

making a turn on a curve of radius

with a velocity

experiences a centripetal acceleration

. In order to keep moving without skidding, a frictional force

needs to act toward the center of the curve, with a minimal value

for the coefficient of static friction.

The centripetal acceleration is

. The force

must be equal to the maximum static friction force

, where

is the gravitational acceleration.

Contributed by: Enrique Zeleny

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Frictional Force on a Car in a Turn