16. Centripetal force and centrifugal force

To understand the Centripetal force, observe the below figure.

 

 

In the above figure, a man creating a uniform circular motion with a thread and small stone.

 

If the motion of a stone in circular path with constant speed and continuous changes of its direction is called an accelerated motion. You can see an acceleration acting along the string directed inwards, which makes the stone to move in a circular path.

 

And this accelerating force that forces the object to move in a circular path is called centripetal acceleration, and this force is known as centripetal force.

 

 

If an object of mass m, moving along a circular path of radius r, with a velocity v, then its centripetal acceleration is $a=\frac{v^2}{r}$

Hence, the magnitude of centripetal force is given by,

 

 

While doing laundry in a washing machine, if you observe it, you can see that the machine is pulling the clothes away from the centre of the machine, This is the easiest example of centrifugal force.