Centrifugal/Centripetal Force

In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force that appears to act on all objects
when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is parallel to the
axis of rotation and passing through the coordinate system's origin.

Fc
W V2
F c=
gr
r
where: W = weight of the body
V = tangential velocity
g = gravitational acceleration
r = radius of curvature V

A centripetal force is a force that makes a body follow a curved path. Its direction is always
orthogonal to the motion of the body and towards the fixed point of the instantaneous center of
curvature of the path.

mV 2
F c= V r
r
Fc
where: m = mass of the body
V = tangential velocity
r = radius of curvature
Solved Problem:
A child swings his stuffed monkey toy by the tail in a horizontal circle of radius 0.5 m. The monkey’s
mass is 0.5 kg. The tail is a bit chewed-on and frayed and can only withstand a tension of about 20 N.
What is the maximum speed with which the child can swing the monkey so that the tail does not
break?

Solution:

When the magnitude of the centripetal force is 20 N, the speed with which the child can swing the
money is at a maximum. For circular motion, the centripetal force can be calculated as:

mV max2
F c=
r
substituting the values,
(V ¿¿ max¿¿ 2)
20 N=(0.5 kg) ¿¿
0.5 m
from which Vmax = 4.47 m/s
 Assignments

1.) A body tied a 80 grams stone to a string which he rotated to form a circular motion with a diameter
of 1000 mm. Compute for the pull exerted on the string by the stone if it got loose leaving at a velocity
of 25 m/s. Ans. 100N

2.) A cyclist on a circular track of radius r = 800 feet is travelling at 27fps. His speed in the tangential
direction increases at the rate of 3 fps2. What is the cyclist’s total acceleration? Ans. 3.1fps2

3.) An automobile travels on a perfectly horizontal, unbanked circular track of radius r. The coefficient
of friction between the tires and track is 0.3. If the car’s velocity is 15m/s, what is the smallest radius it
may travel without skidding? Ans. 76.5 m

4.) A man keeps a 1kg toy airplane flying horizontally in a circle by holding onto a 1.5 m long string
attached to its wing tip. The string is always in the plane of the circular path. If the plane flies at 10
m/s, find the tension in the string. Ans. 67 N

5.) A 150 g ball at the end of a string is revolving uniformly in a horizontal circle of radius 0.600 m.
The ball makes 2 revolutions in a second. What is the centripetal acceleration? Ans. 94.79 m/s2