From Latin fortress, force It is a term with multiple uses. The concept may refer to the use of a power (either symbolic or physical); to the ability to mobilize a thing or a body that generates a resistance or that has weight; to the action of forcing a person to do something; to the strength to tolerate a push; to the effectiveness of things; to vigor; or to the influence that is able to modify the state of a body.
The centripetal , which comes from the Latin word centripetus, refers to what moves towards center or what produces attraction to his location. It can be said, therefore, that the centripetal force it is the one that needs to be applied to an object or body so that it can overcome the inertia and make a movement with a curve .
The Newton's laws They allow us to understand how a centripetal force acts. This force is concrete perpendicularly to the direction in which the body moves over which it is exercised. The object that moves with non-uniform velocity in a circular-type trajectory carries a net force that can decompose into a tangential component (which alters the velocity) and into another perpendicular (which modifies the direction of movement).
The formula to find the centripetal force is as follows: mass x squared velocity / radius.
Also when talking about this type of force it is inevitable that we refer to what is known as centripetal acceleration, which is also called normal, which is that which originates from a real force and that It is related to the change in direction of velocity experienced by any particle that is in motion during a curvilinear path.
However, when determining the aforementioned force, not only must the aforementioned acceleration be taken into account, but also other equally relevant and important factors such as the radial vector, angular velocity, velocity modulus, radius of the circular path or position vector.
Among the fields of our life that make use of this force that occupies us or that are present in them almost intrinsically, we find, for example, the action of placing a satellite in orbit. And that without forgetting that a clear example of it would be the operation of the roundabouts.
Also, at the scientific level it is important to emphasize that although the centripetal force is fundamental in various fields that study, analyze and use it, in one in which it becomes especially relevant is in the case of relativistic mechanics, which undertakes so much what is the investigation of the uniform circular movement as of the rectilinear.
It is important to understand the difference between the centripetal force and the centrifugal force . This last force is a force that qualifies as fictional and that a fixed observer establishes as a referent system in rotation to describe the movement of an object.
Take the case of a child who ties a stone to a rope and makes it turn in a circle, keeping the same angular velocity , to throw it in the middle of a lake. This stone will move in a circular path since the rope will apply a centripetal force on it.
