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Question

What is the source of centripetal force that a planet requires to revolve around the Sun? On what factors does that force depend?


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Solution

Step 1. Centripetal force :

  1. It is defined as the force that makes a body follow a curved path.
  2. Its direction is orthogonal to the motion of the body and towards the fixed point of the center of curve path.
  3. Its mathematical expression is Fc=mv2r, where Fc = centripetal force, m = mass, v = velocity, r = radius of curved path.
  4. The SI unit of centripetal force is Newton.

Step 2. An illustrative diagram of the centripetal force :

Step 3 .Explanation :

  1. The gravitational force applied by the sun on the planet is the source of centripetal force that a planet requires to revolve around the Sun.
  2. This gravitational force depends on following factors :

2.1 Masses of objects : Gravitational force between two objects is directly proportional to the masses of the objects.

2.2 Square of the distance between the objects : Gravitational force between two objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects.


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