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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 Kepler problem and the simple harmonic oscillator problem are the two most fundamental problems in classical mechanics. They are the only two problems that have closed orbits for every possible set of initial conditions, i.e., return to their starting point with the same velocity (Bertrand's theorem). [1]: 92
In classical mechanics, the central-force problem is to determine the motion of a particle in a single central potential field.A central force is a force (possibly negative) that points from the particle directly towards a fixed point in space, the center, and whose magnitude only depends on the distance of the object to the center.
A central-force problem is said to be "integrable" if this integration can be solved in terms of known functions. If the force is a power law, i.e., if F ( r ) = a r n {\displaystyle F(r)=ar^{n}} , then u {\displaystyle u} can be expressed in terms of circular functions and/or elliptic functions if n {\displaystyle n} equals 1, -2, -3 (circular ...
Eliminating the angular velocity dθ/dt from this radial equation, [47] ¨ = +. which is the equation of motion for a one-dimensional problem in which a particle of mass μ is subjected to the inward central force −dV/dr and a second outward force, called in this context the (Lagrangian) centrifugal force (see centrifugal force#Other uses of ...
In classical mechanics, the two-body problem is to calculate and predict the motion of two massive bodies that are orbiting each other in space. The problem assumes that the two bodies are point particles that interact only with one another; the only force affecting each object arises from the other one, and all other objects are ignored.
An inverse cube law centrifugal force appears in an equation representing planetary orbits, including non-circular ones, as Leibniz described in his 1689 Tentamen de motuum coelestium causis. [5] Leibniz's equation is still used today to solve planetary orbital problems, although his solar vortex theory is no longer used as its basis. [6]
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 .