Force and Circular Motion

Centripetal Force- The force necessary to make an object move in a circle. It is directed perpendicular to the velocity toward the center of the circle. This the special force required by circular motion.

According to Newton's First Law, an object that is not acted upon by an outside force will travel at a constant velocity. Since velocity includes direction, this means the object will travel in a straight line. The only way you can change this, is to apply a force/forces. If that force happens to be perpendicular to the velocity of an object, the object will curve, but if a force continues to direct perpendicularly to the velocity, the object will move in a circle.

Centripetal Acceleration required centripetal force, which also comes centripetal velocity.

In a nutshell, we have covered the following in this post:
1. Circular motion required centripetal force.
2. The larger the centripetal force, the faster an object travels in a circle of a given size.
3. At a given speed, the larger the centripetal force, the smaller the circle.