An airplane flies in a horizontal circle of radius 500 m at a speed of 150 m/s. If the radius were changed to 1000 m, but the speed remained the same, by what factor would its centripetal acceleration change?

The centripetal acceleration changed by a factor of 0.5

Explanation:

Given;

first radius of the horizontal circle, r₁ = 500 m

speed of the airplane, v = 150 m/s

second radius of the airplane, r₂ = 1000 m

Centripetal acceleration is given as;

At constant speed, we will have;

a₂ = 0.5a₁

Therefore, the centripetal acceleration changed by a factor of 0.5