Centripetal Force and Curving Motion

Created by Chinmay Kulkarni

Main Idea

A body having circular motion always has the centripetal force pointing inside the circle and the velocity tangential to the circle

A centripetal force is a force acting on a body while it has curving motion. In these certain situations, the momentum of the system is not constant, since the direction of motion, or velocity always changes direction while the speed may remain constant. For example, image you are kicking a ball that is moving perpendicular to the direction of motion. Now if you keep kicking the ball in this similar manner for a small duration of time, the ball would move in a circular path. This is what circular motion is.

A Mathematical Model

While an object is in circular motion, the centripetal force is always perpendicular to the velocity and momentum of the object, meaning that the object experiences a force towards the centre of the circle while it is moving. The simple mathematical model for centripetal force is normally [math]\displaystyle{ F_c = ma_c = \frac{m v^2}{r} }[/math] for any object moving in a circle. However, since this is circular motion, many times the angular velocity ω in radians/second of the system moving is given.

In this case

[math]\displaystyle{ v = \omega r }[/math]

meaning

[math]\displaystyle{ F_c = {m\omega^2 r} }[/math]

However sometimes the period of rotation [math]\displaystyle{ T }[/math], in seconds is given

[math]\displaystyle{ T = \frac{2\pi}{\omega} \,. }[/math]

Thus, the equation becomes

[math]\displaystyle{ F = m r \left(\frac{2\pi}{T}\right)^2 }[/math]

However in many circumstances, it is helpful to split the centripetal force into parallel and perpendicular forces, or [math]\displaystyle{ F_{para} }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ F_{perp} }[/math] respectively.

This means

[math]\displaystyle{ F_c = F_{para} + F_{perp} }[/math]

Thus we can rewrite the momentum principle as follows

[math]\displaystyle{ Δp = (F_{para} + F_{perp})Δt }[/math]

Normally, [math]\displaystyle{ F_{para} }[/math] dictates the velocity of the object, while [math]\displaystyle{ F_{perp} }[/math] dictates the direction of motion.

A Computational Model

A computational representation of centripetal force can be created using Python.

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The purple arrow represents the direction of force on a spacecraft orbiting earth. The yellow arrow represents the velocity of the spacecraft. The yellow line represents the motion of the craft.

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