Name the force which is compulsory to sustain uniform circular motion.
Open in App
Solution
Uniform circular motion:
Uniform circular motion can be described as the motion of a particle that is moving in a circular path with a constant speed.
For example, the motion of the hands of a clock or the motion of a satellite around Earth's orbit.
Centripetal force:
Centripetal force can be defined as the force that is required so that an object keeps moving in a circular path.
The force is directed inwards towards the center of the circular path.
The formula for centripetal force is , where is mass of the object, is the velocity with which it is moving and is the radius of the circular path.
Since in a circular motion direction changes, velocity also changes, and therefore, the body moves with an acceleration.
According to Newton's first law, an external force is required to produce an acceleration. Thus, centripetal force is required for uniform circular motion.
Hence, centripetal force is compulsory to sustain uniform circular motion.