Lab 6: Centripetal Force

Description
In this lab, you will learn what forces are involved in moving a massive object along a curved
path. You will learn about the relationships between force, centripetal acceleration, and instanta-
neous velocity.

Equipment
• Centripetal Force Apparatus

• Pulley

• String

• Masses

• Mass Hanger

• Bubble Level

Introduction
When a body moves along a curved path, the direction of its velocity changes. For the purposes
of this experiment, we will be considering motion in a circle, at constant velocity, called uniform
circular motion. Note that when the term constant velocity is used, it refers to a constant magnitude
velocity, NOT constant direction. Even though the magnitude remains the same, the direction
cannot, because the motion is in a circle. (What would the motion be if the direction was constant?)
Consider a car driving around a circular path, as depicted in Figure 1.
In order for the car to maintain the circular motion, its velocity vector must always be tangential
to the circle. In addition, its acceleration vector must always point radially inward toward the center
of the circle; thus, the velocity and acceleration vectors are always perpendicular to one another
(this is only true for uniform circular motion). Because the acceleration is pointed toward the center
of the circle, it is called centripetal acceleration, and its magnitude is expressed mathematically
as:
v2
ac = (1)
r
where the subscript ’c’ is used to denote centripetal acceleration, and r is the radius of the
circular path. We can also express the magnitude of the velocity in terms of the distance traveled
in some amount of time. We can easily express the distance of the circumference of the circle as
2πr. The amount of time it takes to travel one complete path around the circle is called the period
of revolution, T. Thus, we can say:
∆x 2πr
v= = (2)
∆x T
Rearranging these equations gives:
4π 2 r
ac = (3)
T2

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Figure 1: Uniform circular motion. The force, acceleration, and velocity vectors are labeled at four
points around the circle.

Because the car is experiencing an acceleration to keep it moving in a circle, Newton’s Second
Law tells us that some external force or forces must be acting on the car to maintain the circular
motion such that the vector sum of the forces is a vector pointing radially inward toward the center
of the circle. (Why? What if the force is not pointed this direction?) We know that force can
be expressed as a mass times an acceleration, and in this case, our acceleration is the centripetal
acceleration; therefore, we can define a centripetal force as follows:

Fc = mac (4)

We can substitute the equation for centripetal acceleration to give an expression for the cen-
tripetal force:
m4π 2 r
Fc = (5)
T2
This is the equation you will be verifying in this experiment by studying the effects of varying
the rotating mass, the radius of rotation, and the centripetal force on an object moving in a circular
path.

Procedure
The apparatus you will be using in this experiment is depicted in Figures 2 and 2. It looks com-
plicated and has many parts, so be sure that you are careful while working through this procedure.
Before performing the experiment, it is important that the rotational platform is level or the
mass and spring will oscillate as the platform rotates. To level the base, do the following:
1. Attach or move the 300-gram counter mass to either end of the aluminum track. Tighten the
screw so the mass will not slide. Remove the brass mass if present.

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 Figure 2: The circular motion apparatus.

2. Rotate the track so that it is parallel to one side of the A-base and adjust the leveling screws
until the track is level as measured using a bubble level sitting on the track.

3. Rotate the track again so that it is parallel to the other side of the A-base and adjust the
leveling screws until it is level.

Part 1: Varying the Radius

1. Measure the mass, M, and record it in your lab book. Replace it to its original position,
hanging from the side post, and connect another string from M to the spring on the center
post, making sure that the string runs under the pulley at the center post.

2. Attach the clamp on pulley to the end of the track nearer the mass M, as shown in Figure 2.
Attach a string to M and run it over the pulley.

3. Measure the mass of the mass hanger and record it in your lab book. Choose a calibration
mass, m. Hang it on the mass hanger and record the total mass in your lab book. Approx-
imately 50 [g] will work fine. Calculate the weight of this mass, mg, which is equal to the
centripetal force, and record it in your lab book. This will remain constant for this part of
the experiment.
By hanging a force on the mass when it is stationary, you know how much the spring will
stretch under that force. Once you begin spinning the apparatus, when the pink ring lines up
with the marker, you know that the force from centripetal acceleration is equal to the force
you applied during calibration.

4. Create a data table with columns: Trial, Radius [m], Time of 10 Revolutions [s], Period (T)
[s], T 2 [s2 ]. Your table will need space for 5 trials.

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 Figure 3: A detailed view of the circular motion apparatus.

5. Select a radius by aligning the side post with any desired position on the scale on the track.
The radius is the distance between the center post and the side post. Record this distance in
your data table.

6. The mass, M, on the side bracket must hang vertically. On the center post, adjust the spring
bracket vertically until the string from which M hangs on the side post is aligned with the
vertical line on the side post.

7. Align the indicator bracket on the center post with the orange indicator.

8. Remove the mass hanging over the pulley and the pulley itself.

9. Rotate the apparatus, increasing the speed until the orange indicator is centered in the
indicator bracket on the center post. When this occurs, the string supporting the mass,
M, is once again vertical, and M is at the desired radius.

10. You will need to manually maintain the rotational speed which keeps the orange indicator in
the bracket. As you are doing so, use a stopwatch to time ten revolutions. Divide this time
by ten to obtain the period of one revolution, and then square it. Record these values in your
data table.

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 11. Move the side post to a new radius and repeat steps 5-10 four more times, for a total of five
radii.

12. Make a graph with radius on the vertical axis and the square of the period on the horizontal
axis. Rearranging equation (4) gives:
Fc
r=( )T 2 (6)
4π 2 M

which is in the form y = mx, the equation of a line, where x in this case is T 2 . Find the
line of best fit from your graph, and calculate its slope. Note that the slope of the line you
calculate should equal the quantity in parenthesis. From this, calculate the centripetal force.
Calculate a percent difference between this centripetal force and the centripetal force you set
in the beginning with the weights of the mass and hanger. (What should it be?) Record
these values.

Part 1: Varying the Force

1. In this part, you will repeat the steps from Part 1, but instead of varying in the radius
each time, you will be varying how much force the centripetal acceleration puts on the mass.
Record the mass M, mass of the hanger by itself, and the radius in your lab book. These will
all be constant.

2. Create a new data table with columns: Trial, Mass on hanger [kg], Total Mass [kg], Total
Weight [N], Centripetal Force Fc [N], Time of 10 Revolutions [s], Period T [s], T 2 , and T12 .
Again, you will need space for 5 trials.

3. To vary the centripetal force, clamp the pulley to the track again and hang a different mass
over the pulley. Record this new mass and its weight in your data table. Remember to keep
the radius constant. Repeat the procedure from Part I four more times for a total of five
different forces.

4. Make a graph with the centripetal force on the vertical axis and the inverse square of the
period on the horizontal axis. From equation (4), we have:
1
Fc = (4πM r)( ) (7)
T2

which is in the form y = mx, the equation of a line. Again, find the line of best fit from
your graph, and calculate its slope. Note that the slope you calculate should equal the first
quantity in parenthesis in the above equation. From this, calculate M. Calculate a percent
difference between this value of M and the value you measured it to be in Part I. (What
should it be?) Record these values.

Part 1: Varying the Mass

1. In this part, you will repeat the experiment again, but the force and radius will be held
constant and the mass M will be varied. Record the total mass of the hanger and the masses
on the hanger, the total calibration weight, and the radius. These will all be constant.

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 2. Create a table with columns: Trial, Mass M [kg], Time of 10 Revolutions [s], Period T [s],
T 2 , Centripetal Force Fc [N], and Percent difference in forces. You will need space for 3 trials
in this part.

3. Vary the mass, M, by removing the side masses. Repeat the procedure above for a total of
three different masses.

4. Calculate the centripetal force for each trial and record it in your data table.

5. Calculate the percent difference between the centripetal force calculated in step 3 and the
Total Weight (Fc), mg, and record it in your data table. (What should it be?)

Analysis

1. Why don’t we draw a graph for Part III? Could we?

2. What direction does the centripetal acceleration vector point in uniform circular motion?

3. If an object is spun around in a circle on the end of a string and suddenly released, in what
direction will the object move compared to its original path (negating the effects of gravity)?

4. If an object travels in a circle with a radius of 50 [m] at a velocity of 15 [m/s], what is the
centripetal acceleration acting on the object? How does this compare with gravity on the
surface of the earth? If the object has a mass of 42 [kg], what is the centripetal force acting
upon the object?

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