Centripetal Force and Gravity ee) ” Many objects move in eireular, or near circular, paths. For example * a rubber ball spun on a piece of string © spinning rides at fairgrounds a car turing ‘© the Earth and olher planets in orbit around the Sun. ‘An object moving in a circular path is, ‘continuously accelerating towards the centre of == the cirte The resultant force causing this acceleration is called the centripetal force. The direction of centripetal forces is always towards the centre of the circle (inwards). NB. The acceleration doesn't change the speed of the object, but the direction of its motion. ‘The Earth, Sun, Moon and all other objects attract each other with a force called oraviy. The bigger the ‘mass of the object, he bigger the force of gravity between them. ‘The orbit of any planet is an ellipse (slightly squashed circle) with the Sun close to the centre. Gravitational force provides the centripetal force for the elliptical orbits of planets and satelites. For example. © the Moon and artificial sateltes around the Earth © Earth and other planets around the Sun. Several different forces can act in this way: ‘The centripetal force can be increased by. ————=x=—$__—_ ‘A whirling ball ~ the centripetal force that keeps the ball moving is provided by the tension force in the string, ‘A turning car ~ the frictional force acting on the turned wheels of the car allow the car fo tur. Increasing the mass of the object increasing the speed of the object decreasing the radius of the circle, Sie aeCentripetal Force and Gravity {As the distance between two objects increases, the To stay in orbit at a particular distance, objects must {force of gravity between them proportionally decreases. orbit ata particular speed. This balances the For example fhe distance is. ene ore doubled force becomes + fhe orignal force So the further away an ofbiing objects he longer + tabled he force becomes + ofthe orginal force, it fakes to make a complete ori. Oo—-—0 oO ° oe fe =, eens a ed TE ‘Communications satellites link up communication networks between different countries. ‘They are usually put info a geostationary orb Le. they pass high above the equator, moving ‘around the Earth at exactly the same rate as the Earth spins. They fake 24 hours to complete an orbit, so they ‘always stay af the same point above the equator. Monitoring satellites collect information about the ‘atmosphere. These satellites are put into a low polar orb, le. they pass continuously over the North and South poles with the Earth spinning beneath them. ‘They orbit and scan the Earth several times every day from a much closer range than a geostationary satelite