MIT Physics Demo -- Centrifugal versus Centripetal Motion
A wooden ball is attached to the rim of a spinning wheel. The ball is held in place by a string. When the spring is cut, the ball flies in a straight tangent to the wheel.
In the camera's frame of reference, the ball constantly accelerates around in a circle due to the centripetal force pulling it inwards. When the string is cut, the acceleration stops, and the ball flies away in a straight tangential line. When the string is cut in the rotating frame of reference, a ficticious force (centrifugal force) accelerates the ball.
Comments (2)
You need to log in, in order to post comments. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up now!
- Created
- August 28, 2008 14:21
- Category
- Tags
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (What is this?)
- Formats
- H.264 Video (mp4)
- Additional Files
- Viewed
- 27112 times
More from MIT Department of Physics Technical Services Group
Ripple Tank: Single and Double Slit...
Added almost 3 years ago | 00:03:05 | 50784 views
Hinged Stick and a Falling Ball
Added almost 2 years ago | 00:01:23 | 14634 views
MIT Physics Demo -- Low Friction At...
Added over 3 years ago | 00:00:46 | 40524 views
Relative Motion Gun
Added almost 3 years ago | 00:01:07 | 41963 views
Field of a Sphere and an Infinite P...
Added 8 months ago | 00:02:23 | 3322 views
MIT Physics Demo -- Telegraph Trans...
Added 4 years ago | 00:00:36 | 41356 views

Thanks! We used this in homeschool physics. It was a great visual. It would have been a shade better if the person's arm was not in the way on the second view…
Posted over 3 years by Anonymous User
blah blah blah
Posted over 3 years by Anonymous