Centripetal Force – Background and

Theory
Objective
In this laboratory activity, students will study the nature of Centripetal Force and determine the
relationship between the centripetal force, mass, tangential speed and radius of an object in
uniform circular motion. Students will also investigate the effect of these quantities (mass,
speed, and radius) on the centripetal force.

Theory
An object moving with a changing speed in the same direction is undergoing acceleration. If an
object moves with a constant speed but is changing direction, it is also undergoing acceleration.
Both types of accelerations require a force. Acceleration due to a change in direction is called
centripetal acceleration, and the force producing it is called centripetal force. It is directed
toward the center of the circle and has a constant magnitude given by:

Fc = mv2/r Eq. (1)

where m is the mass of the object moving in a circle, r is the radius of the circle, and v is the
tangential speed of the object. For uniform circular motion, the tangential speed is given by:

v = 2πr/T Eq. (2)

where T is the time for one revolution, or the period of motion. It is related to the frequency of
rotation f and the angular velocity ω as f = 1/T, and ω = 2πf = 2π/T.

Using known relationship between linear and angular velocity, v = ω r, we can re-write the
centripetal force in the Eq. (1) in terms of ω, m, and r:

Fc = m (ω r) 2/r = m ω2 r Eq. (1a)

It is important to note that the centripetal force is not an additional force on the system, but
rather the vector sum of the forces acting on the object.

Fc = F Eq. (3)

Examples of centripetal force include the tension in a string attached to a can twirled in a
circular path, the friction between the road and the tires of a car on an unbanked curve, or the
force of gravity pulling a satellite toward the center of Earth as the satellite moves in a circular
orbit.
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Section: _____________
Name: Reynaldo de la rosa

Centripetal Force – Lab Report

Part 1 - Circular Motion Concepts
For this section, you will reinforce concepts of period, frequency, angular velocity, and
tangential velocity for the uniform circular motion of a ball attached to a string. To complete
this section, you will be using the following website:

http://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/CircularMotionLab/

Once you begin the exercise, you will have 8 tasks to complete:

1. Revolutions per Minute (RPM) –

use the timer in the top left corner
of the simulation to measure the
motion of the ball in RPM units.
One easy way is to count literally
the number of times the ball
completes a revolution in one
minute. Submit your answer in the
given box above the simulation. Figure 1 - Circular Motion Simulator. Timer control is
indicated by the blue arrow

2. Period (T) – Period is the amount of time (in seconds) it takes for an object to complete
1 revolution. Use the simulation timer to measure the period for object.

3. Frequency (f) – Frequency is a similar measure for circular motion. It is defined as the
number of times an object completes a revolution each second. Use the simulation
timer to find the frequency of the object. The SI unit for frequency is 1/s or Hz. *Note:
the timer is running in slow motion, so make sure to use the given timer and not your
own for an answer!

4. Angular velocity () – Angular velocity or angular frequency, is a measure of the angle
through which an object passes each second. It is measured in units of radians/second
(rad/s). You can calculate it with the following formula:
ω = 2πf = 2π/T
Use the simulation timer and either frequency or period to calculate angular velocity.

5. Period vs. Frequency – Convert the period to frequency using the formula f = 1/T

Updated: Spring 2020

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6. Frequency vs. Period – Convert the frequency to period

7. Tangential Speed (v) – Tangential speed is the linear speed of the object as it travels in a
circular path. Since the object completes one revolution traveling along the
circumference of the circle (circumference = 2πr) in one period (T), you can find the
tangential speed with the following formula:
v = 2πr/T
To measure the speed, you will need to
measure the radius of the path of the ball.

8. Tangential Velocity – Although the speed is

constant, the velocity of the ball is
constantly changing due to its constant
change in linear direction. For this exercise
you will find the time that the direction of
the ball is either directly up, down, left or
Figure 2 - The Radius of the ball is shown. Measure
right. Make sure to start the timer when the the value using the ruler on the right-hand side of
ball passes through the vertical white line. the simulator
*Note: although the ball starts at a
direction of right, do not enter t = 0 for this direction. Wait until the next time the
velocity of the ball points in this direction!

When you complete the last section, you will be prompted to input your name, and
then you will be given a report with a certificate of completion. Attach the screenshot
of the certificate on the last page of the lab report.

Figure 4 - Page that will display after all exercises are Figure 3 - Example of a certificate of completion.
complete Make sure you screen shot and attach to your
report before you navigate away from the page!!

Updated: Spring 2020

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Part 2 – Centripetal Force Simulation

In this part of the experiment, you will be running simulations of an object in uniform circular
motion in three different settings:
1. If you keep the speed and radius of rotation constant, and vary the rotating mass, then
from Eq. (1)
Fc = (v2/r) m = const · m, and the graph “Fc vs. Mass” is a straight line with the slope
equal to “v2/r”.

2. If the mass and radius of motion are kept constant, and velocity varies, then F c = (m/r) v2
= const · v2 , and the graph “Fc vs. v2” is a straight line with the slope equal to “m/r”.

3. If the mass and the tangential speed are kept constant, while the radius of rotation is
varied, then Fc = (mv2) /r = const /r . In this part of the experiment, the graph of “Fc vs
1/r” is a straight line, with the slope given by “mv2”.

To complete this section, you will be using the following website:

https://www.walter-fendt.de/html5/phen/circularmotion_en.htm

Figure 5 - Centripetal Force Simulator. Input values on the right hand side. Selecting
one of the four radio buttons will display the relevant vectors and information during
simulation

Updated: Spring 2020

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Procedure 1: Force vs Mass (Radius and Velocity held Constant)

1. Navigate to the simulator page and input the following initial values:
• Radius = 1.0 m
• Period = 5 s
• Mass = 3 kg
2. Run the simulation and use the four radio buttons for position, velocity, acceleration
and force to display real-time information for these values as the simulation runs.
3. Reset the simulation and keep radius and period constant throughout this procedure,
only changing mass according to the values in the table below. Fill the values and note
how they change as the mass is increased.

Variable Mass
Mass (kg) Centripetal Acceleration (m/s2) Centripetal Force (N)
2 1.5876 3.1752
4 1.5876 6.3504
6 1.5876 9.5256
8 1.5876 12.701
10 1.5876 15.876

Analysis: Force vs Mass

1. Looking at the Variable Mass table, what can you conclude about the relationship
between the centripetal force and mass? What is the functional form of this
relationship? (E.g. linear, quadratic, reciprocal, etc.)
From what he discovered in this exercise, was that if you change the mass of the
object, it will not affect the speed of the object, since it is directed with a string in
the air. What changes if it would be the force that it generates when rotating,
therefore if it gets out of the trajectory it would generate more force when hitting.

2. We see that the magnitude of the net force acting on the ball in the simulation is
constant and nonzero. This implies that there is a constant magnitude of
acceleration (Remember F = ma). Since speed is constant throughout the motion,
the ball never speeds up or slows down. Is velocity constant? Explain how there is
acceleration here.
Yes, the velocity is constant, the only thing that changes as the mass of the object
increases is the centripetal force.

Updated: Spring 2020

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Procedure 2: Force vs Velocity (Radius and Mass held Constant)

1. Maintain your initial values of Mass = 3 kg and Radius = 1.0 m. Vary the period and record
both the tangential speed and centripetal force values to fill in the table below

Variable Velocity
Period (s) Tangential speed (m/s) Centripetal Force (N)
2 3.1416 29.578
4 1.57 7.3947
6 1.0472 3.3075
8 0.7854 1.8486
10 0.6283 1.1831

Analysis: Force vs Velocity

1. What is the relationship between period (T) and tangential speed (v)?

If the period is the time required by an object to go around the circle once, then the velocity
at which it does so is 's/t' (distance/time).

2. Comparing tangential speed with centripetal force, what can you conclude about the
relationship between the centripetal force and speed? What is the functional form of
this relationship?
The fact that the centripetal force is directed perpendicular to the tangential velocity means
that the force can alter the direction of the object's velocity vector without altering its
magnitude.

Updated: Spring 2020

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Procedure 3: Force vs Radius (Mass and Tangential Speed held

Constant)
1. Maintain your initial values of Mass = 3 kg. Run the simulation with the period and
radius values shown below. Make sure to change both values before starting each
simulation. Record the values to fill the table below

Variable Radius
Mass (kg) Period (s) Tangential speed (m/s) Radius (m) Centripetal Force (N)
3 2 3.1416 1 29.579
3 4 3.1416 2 29.579
3 6 3.1416 3 29.579
3 8 3.1416 4 29.579
3 10 3.1416 5 29.579

Analysis: Force vs Circle Radius

1. Looking at the Variable Radius table, what can you conclude about the relationship
between the centripetal force and radius? What is the functional form of this
relationship? I can conclude that centripetal force is inversely proportional to the radius
of the circular orbit. Lineal.

2. Try a few values of increasing the radius without changing the period, and you will see
that centripetal force increases with radius. Explain the reason for this. (Hint: it will help
to look at the tangential speed and angular velocity values as you increase the value of
radius!) This is because the lower the period, the faster the ball will go in the orbit.

Updated: Spring 2020

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Use this page to attach your certificate of completion for part 1.

Once you have completed the assignment, save your report as a PDF and upload using the
blackboard submission on the lab course page (found under “Lab Online Submissions”):

Updated: Spring 2020