Centripetal and Centrifugal Force Acceleration

Centripetal and Centrifugal acceleration - force due to circular motion

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

a_c = v²/r         (1)

where

a_c = 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

F_c = m a_c

    = m v²/r         (2)

where

F_c = 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

F_c = (1000 kg) ((50 km/h)(1000 m/km)/(3600 s/h))² / (200 m)

    = 965 N

Online Centripetal (Centrifugal) Calculator - Velocity

m - mass (kg)

v - velocity (m/s)

r - radius (m)

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

F_c = 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

m - mass (kg)

n - rpm

r - radius (m)

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