Custom Search
Centripetal and Centrifugal Force and Acceleration
Centripetal and Centrifugal acceleration - force due to circular motion
Sponsored Links
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 π 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 Centripetal Force: the Centrifugal Force
Sponsored Links
Search the Engineering ToolBox
Custom Search
Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Edition - Online 3D modeling!
Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Edition - enabled for use with the amazing, fun and free Google SketchUp