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Centripetal Force
Types of Force Summary

Classical Physics - Physics theories and other related topics
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TYPES OF FORCE Application of Newton's Laws CP-04 Page 20 Rev. 0 Figure 11   Centrifugal Force Figure 12   Loss of Centripetal Force Centrifugal Force Another  force,  which  appears to be opposite the direction of motion, is the centrifugal force acting on an object that follows a   curved   path.      This   force appears to be a force directed away  from  the   center  of  the circular path.  This is actually a fictitious    force,    but    is    an apparent  force that is used to describe the forces present due to an object's rotation. To better understand centripetal and     centrifugal forces, consider that a string is attached to the plane in Figure 10.  As the plane rotates about the center, the string places a centripetal force on the plane.  This causes the plane's velocity to change in direction, thus causing it to travel in a circle. The  apparent  outward  force, centrifugal force, seems to pull the plane away from the center shown in Figure 11.  This is the same  apparent  outward  force one feels when riding in a car when the car travels in a circle. It can be proven that centrifugal   force   is   not an actual   force   by   cutting   the string.  In doing so,  the plane will fly off in a straight line that is  tangent  to  the  circle  at  the velocity it had the moment the string was cut. If there were an actual centrifugal force present, the plane would not fly away in a line tangent to the circle, but would  fly  directly  away  from the circle (see Figure 12).







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