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A centripetal force (from Latin centrum, "center" and petere, "to seek" [1]) is a force that makes a body follow a curved path.The direction of the centripetal force is always orthogonal to the motion of the body and towards the fixed point of the instantaneous center of curvature of the path.
The forces acting on a body add as vectors, and so the total force on a body depends upon both the magnitudes and the directions of the individual forces. [ 23 ] : 58 When the net force on a body is equal to zero, then by Newton's second law, the body does not accelerate, and it is said to be in mechanical equilibrium .
Problem 4 then explores, for the case of an inverse-square law of centripetal force, how to determine the orbital ellipse for a given starting position, speed, and direction of the orbiting body. Newton points out here, that if the speed is high enough, the orbit is no longer an ellipse, but is instead a parabola or hyperbola .
With respect to a coordinate frame whose origin coincides with the body's center of mass for τ() and an inertial frame of reference for F(), they can be expressed in matrix form as:
Solving applications dealing with non-uniform circular motion involves force analysis. With a uniform circular motion, the only force acting upon an object traveling in a circle is the centripetal force. In a non-uniform circular motion, there are additional forces acting on the object due to a non-zero tangential acceleration.
Unlike the inertial force known as centrifugal force, which exists only in the rotating frame of reference, the reactive force is a real Newtonian force that is observed in any reference frame. The two forces will only have the same magnitude in the special cases where circular motion arises and where the axis of rotation is the origin of the ...
Therefore, it cancels out the ubiquitous centrifugal force found in the first example, and goes a step further to provide exactly the centripetal force demanded by uniform circular motion, so the rotating observer calculates there is no need for tension in the string − the Coriolis force looks after everything.
Since the centrifugal force of the parts of the earth, arising from the earth's diurnal motion, which is to the force of gravity as 1 to 289, raises the waters under the equator to a height exceeding that under the poles by 85472 Paris feet, as above, in Prop. XIX., the force of the sun, which we have now shewed to be to the force of gravity as ...