Question

What will happen if the string to which the stone is tied is suddenly snapped? Justify
your answer from both ground‟s and stone‟s frame of reference. To explain, you can also take the
case of the Earth when Sun suddenly vanishes.

Answer 1

When a stone is going around a circular path, the instantaneous velocity of stone is acting as tangent to the circle. When the string breaks, the centripetal force stops to act. Due to inertia, the stone continues to move along the tangent to circular path. So, the stone flies off tangentially to the circular path
when the string breaks and there is a lose of centripetal acceleration because of directional inertia the stone flies away tangentially.