Biography, Science, Technology, Health, History Blogs

What is centripetal force in circular motion? Centripetal force in circular motion: 1. According to Newton’s law of motion , whenever a body moves in a straight line with uniform velocity, no force is required to maintain this velocity. But when a body moves along a circular path with uniform speed, its direction changes continuously i.e., velocity keeps on changing on account of a change in direction. According to Newton’s second low of motion, a change in the direction of motion of the body can be place only if some external force acts on the body. 2. Due to inertia, at every point of the circular path; the body tends to move along the tangent in the circular path at the point shows in following figure. Since everybody has directional inertia, a velocity cannot change by itself and as such we have to apply a force. But this force should be such that it changes the direction of velocity and not its magnitude. This is possible only if the for...