Centripetal Force

 Today you are going to study an object

that moves in a circle.
 An object that moves in circular motion
must have a force acting on it that is
directed toward the center of the
circle.
 This could be something as simple as a
string pulling a ball into circular motion.
 The string is pulling on the ball.
 Strings cannot push.
 The circular motion could be a road
forcing a car to turn a curve.
 The road continually pushes toward the
center of the curve.
 Forces that make objects move in circular
motion are called
centripetal forces.
 Centripetal means “center-seeking.”
 This force should not be confused with
the force commonly known as centrifugal.
 Centrifugal means “center-fleeing,” and
centrifugal forces are not real.
 Today you will measure the
centripetal force in a particular
circular motion and
show that it satisfies
Newton’s Second Law:

F  ma .
The apparatus you will use is shown below.

Radius

Pulley String

Bob
Spring

Index
Slotted
Masses
When viewed from above the hand-turned
apparatus looks like this
 The acceleration in this circular motion
is one associated with a change in the
direction of the velocity vector, not the
length of the velocity vector.
 It, just like the centripetal force, also
points toward the center of the circle.
 To calculate the acceleration you have
to determine the angular velocity.
 Angular velocity is an angle measurement
divided by time.
 For example if you make one full spin in 2
seconds of time, then your angular velocity
would be 3600 divided by 2 seconds which
reduces to 1800/s.
 Many of you have heard about 33 and a 1/3
rpm phonographic records that your parents
or grandparents had when they were young.
The rpm stands for revolutions per minute,
and it is an angular velocity measurement.
 In lab today you will determine an
angular velocity based on an angular
measurement of radians instead of
degrees.
One radian is the angle subtended at the
center of a circle by an arc equal in length to
the radius of the circle.

2
3
1 6 segments gets
57.30 to here.
2 segments gets
4 completely around.
6
5

1 rev = 3600 = 2 radians (rad)

 To get the angular velocity measured in
terms of rad/s, you will make the
following measurements.
 Count the number (N) of cycles the
apparatus makes, and measure the time
(T) to make these N turns.
 Repeat until you have three different
time measurements involving N turns
each time.
 Take the average of the three T ’s.
 Divide this average T by N to get

the average time () for one

rotation. In other words

= T/N .
 Then the angular velocity () is

 = 2 .
 Though it is not shown here, it is
not difficult to show that the
centripetal acceleration (a) is given
by

a= 2
RR
where R is the radius of the circle.
 Once you have a, you will multiply it
by the mass of the swinging object
(the bob).
 You will then compare this force to
the force necessary to position the
bob at a distance R from its
rotation axis when the apparatus is
not spinning. (See next slide.)
 Radius

Pulley String

Bob
Spring

Index
Slotted
Masses