All Flashcards
What is the effect of a net force pointing towards the center of a circle?
It causes the object to move in uniform circular motion.
What happens to the velocity of an object in UCM?
The direction changes continuously, resulting in acceleration, even if the speed is constant.
What happens when a string breaks while twirling an object in UCM?
The object will move in a straight line tangent to the circle at the point where the string broke.
What is the effect of gravitational force between two objects?
Each object exerts a force on the other, pulling them towards each other's center of mass.
What causes centripetal acceleration?
A change in direction of the velocity vector.
What is a vector field?
A vector field assigns a vector to each point in space, showing the direction and strength of a force at different points.
What is uniform circular motion (UCM)?
Motion of an object moving in a circle at a constant speed, but with changing velocity due to direction change.
Define centripetal acceleration.
Acceleration that always points towards the center of the circle in uniform circular motion.
Define centripetal force.
The net force that points towards the center of the circle, causing circular motion. It is NOT a new, separate force.
What is centrifugal force?
An apparent, center-fleeing force felt in a rotating frame, but not a real force.
What is the effect of a net centripetal force?
It causes an object to move in a circular path.
What happens when the string breaks in a UCM setup?
The object will move in a straight line tangent to the circle at the point where the string broke.
What happens when the car moves at a constant speed around a circular track?
The car's acceleration is directed towards the center of the circle.
What happens when a satellite is orbiting the Earth in a circular path?
The gravitational force provides the centripetal force necessary for this motion.