Centripetal and Centrifugal Force Acceleration
Centripetal and Centrifugal acceleration - force due to circular motion
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Centripetal Force and Centrifugal Force is the action-reaction force pair associated with circular motion.

Centripetal Acceleration
Since the direction of motion is constantly changing for a object that moves in a circular path - the object has an acceleration - named centripetal acceleration, and can be expressed as
ac = v2/r (1)
where
ac = centripetal acceleration (m/s2)
v = velocity (m/s)
r = circular radius (m)
Centripetal Force
According Newton's second law the centripetal force can be expressed as
Fc = m ac
= m v2/r (2)
where
Fc = centripetal force (N)
m = mass (kg)
Example
A car of 1000 kg travels a curve of radius 200 m at 50 km/h. The centripetal force can bee calculated as
Fc = (1000 kg) ((50 km/h)(1000 m/km)/(3600 s/h))2 / (200 m)
= 965 N
Online Centripetal (Centrifugal) Calculator - Velocity
Centripetal (Centrifugal) Force - rpm
Equation (2) can can be modified to express centripetal or centrifugal force as a function of revolution per minute - rpm - as
Fc = m v2/r
= m (n 2 ? r / 60)2/r
= 0.01097 m r n2 (3)
where
n = revolution per minute - rpm
Online Centripetal (Centrifugal) Calculator - rpm
Centrifugal Force
Newton's third law states that
for every acting force there is an equal and opposite reaction force
Therefore there must be an equal and opposite reaction force to the Centripental Force: the Centrifugal Force
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Related Topics
- Dynamics - Dynamics Motion - velocity and acceleration
- Mechanics - Kinematics, forces, vectors, motion, momentum, energy and the dynamics of objects
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- Acceleration Units Converter - Convert between common units of acceleration
- Acceleration of Gravity and Newton's Second Law - Acceleration of gravity and Newton's Second Law - SI and Imperial units
- Force - Force, Newton's third Law and acceleration
- Formulas of Motion - Linear and angular acceleration, velocity and displacement





