centripetal force

centripetal force

The component of force acting on a body in curvilinear motion that is directed toward the center of curvature or axis of rotation. Centripetal force is necessary for an object to move with circular motion.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

centripetal force

(General Physics) a force that acts inwards on any body that rotates or moves along a curved path and is directed towards the centre of curvature of the path or the axis of rotation. Compare centrifugal force

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

centrip′etal force′

the force, acting upon a body moving along a curved path, that is directed toward the center of curvature of the path and constrains the body to the path.

[1700–10]

centripetal force

Centripetal force causes the ball being whirled at the end of a string to move in a circle about the person, and not to fly out and away along the path of inertia.

cen·trip·e·tal force

(sĕn-trĭp′ĭ-tl)

The force that pulls an object moving in a circle toward the center of the circle and causes the object to follow a curving path. Earth's gravity acts as a centripetal force on the moon.

Did You Know? In one popular carnival ride, people stand with their backs against the wall of a cylindrical chamber. The chamber spins rapidly and then the floor drops out, but the riders remain pressed against the wall and don't fall down. Why? Most people would say that the reason people "stick" to the wall is because a centrifugal, or outward, force is pushing them against it. In actuality, there is no outward force, no matter how strongly the people on the ride may think they feel one. In fact, it's just the opposite: the riders are really subject to an inward, or centripetal, force. As the ride spins, it forces the riders to travel in a circle. Objects (including people) in motion tend to travel in a straight line at constant speed unless they're acted on by some external force. To make an object travel along a curved path, you have to keep forcing it toward the "inside" of the curve. The walls of the ride do just that, pushing the riders toward the center; the friction between the riders and the wall holds them up, so they seem to defy gravity.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

centripetal force

A force that acts radially inward on an object moving in a circular path.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

centripetal force - the inward force on a body moving in a curved path around another body

force - (physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration"

centrifugal force - the outward force on a body moving in a curved path around another body

Translations

dostředivá síla

forza centripeta

centripetalkraft

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Under the centripetal force, the base of the projectile tended toward the moon; but the centrifugal still prevailed; and it was probable that its rectilineal course would be changed to a curve of some sort, the nature of which they could not at present determine.

View in context

What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal.

View in context

It is not enough that we should have matter, we must also have a single impulse, one shove to launch the mass and generate the harmony of the centrifugal and centripetal forces. Once heave the ball from the hand, and we can show how all this mighty order grew.'--'A very unreasonable postulate,' said the metaphysicians, 'and a plain begging of the question.

View in context

As the air I breathe is drawn from the great repositories of nature, as the light on my book is yielded by a star a hundred millions of miles distant, as the poise of my body depends on the equilibrium of centrifugal and centripetal forces, so the hours should be instructed by the ages and the ages explained by the hours.

View in context

As his pen sketches quirky, memorable characters, a core idea encircles them like a centripetal force, with everyday encounters offering a doorway into an unseen, invisibilised past.

FICTION: SUBALTERN AFTERLIVES OF PARTITION

During the launch event, Tomiyasu Nakamura, commissioner general of the Japanese Section, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: "By encouraging and inspiring the next generation to take initiative in the development of future solutions, the Japan pavilion will exist as a centripetal force to connect and communicate the vision of our potential in leading a future society based on the spirit, techniques, culture and elements unique to Japan."

Japan reveals Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion design

By encouraging the next generation to take initiative in the development of future solutions, the Japan pavilion will exist as a centripetal force to connect and communicate the vision of our potential in leading a future society based on the spirit, techniques, culture and elements unique to Japan," Nakamura, Commissioner General of the Japanese Section, Expo 2020 Dubai, said at the launch event.

Japan will spend $50m on Expo 2020 project

The tighter they grip, the more centripetal force there is holding the chain together.

The Retreat To Tribalism

(Of course, a fresh shock to demand could send unemployment back up and reduce inflation; but the "natural rate" always exerts its centripetal force.) But there is a complication I have long emphasised.

Nothing natural about the natural unemployment rate

Most movies opt for the easy solution of 'artificial gravity' with no particular attempt at an explanation, but Passengers offers a more robust--if not especially explicit--solution to simulating gravity in the empty expanse of space: centripetal force.

CINEMA SCIENCE: Cinema Science is an explores how cinema --particularly popular, contemporary cinema --employs science and mathematics concepts. In each instalment, DAVID CREWE will explore how movies can help facilitate learning in STEM subjects

According to Part II of The Figure of the Migrant, these forces of kinopower include: 'centripetal force', in which the accumulation of territorial kinopower pulls from the periphery inward (through, for example, land accumulation and territorial expansion); 'centrifugal force', whereby political kinopower generates outward-directed motion, using 'the power of an accumulated centre in order to expel from, or to, its periphery' (p189)--taking the form of de-politicisation, arrest, and eviction.

EXPANSION/EXPULSION