Washing Machine Mechanics

A washing machine works by rotating the drum about a horizontal axis in a vertical plane. For thorough cleaning, detergent is sprayed from tiny holes in the surface of the drum.

Question Text

Determine the minimum speed v for which the drum has to spin to ensure the clothes remain in contact with the drum for maximum detergent absorption. Treat the clothes as a single particle with mass, m = 2. The effective radius of the drum is r = 2. Assume the clothes do not slip relative to the drum anywhere along the circular motion.

Answer Section

Please enter in a numeric value in m/s.

Attribution

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.