What is the difference between centripetal force and gravitational force

The gravitational force is considered an action at a distance. This gives rise to the problem of time gap between interactions. This can be omitted using the gravitational field concept. Gravitational force only attracts object. Repulsion is not present in gravitational fields. The gravitational force by earth on an object is also known as the weight of the object on earth.

Gravity is a mutual force. Take a quiz on uniform circular motion. Return to solving this using Newton's law of universal gravitation. Return to the beginning and try another approach. However, if you are part of the rotating system, you experience an apparent centrifugal force pushing you away from the center of the circle, even though what you are actually feeling is the inward centripetal force that is keeping you from literally going off on a tangent.

If the force keeping an object in rotation is broken, such as cutting the string that holds a spinning ball, the object will fly off in a straight line, following the tangential direction. This apparent outward force is described by Newton's Laws of Motion.

Newton's First Law states that "a body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion unless it is acted upon by an external force. If a massive body is moving through space in a straight line, its inertia will cause it to continue in a straight line unless an outside force causes it to speed up, slow down or change direction.

In order for it to follow a circular path without changing speed, a continuous centripetal force must be applied at a right angle to its path. Newton's Third Law states that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you are in an accelerating car, the seat exerts a forward force on you just as you appear to exert a backward force on the seat. Planet orbits: what's the difference between gravity and centripetal force?

Ask Question. Asked 11 years ago. Active 5 years, 2 months ago. Viewed 31k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Noldorin Noldorin 6, 4 4 gold badges 35 35 silver badges 38 38 bronze badges. Dare I ask how gravity affects time? More like saying a cat is a "tailed creature". The 4th dimension is indeed time. Basically, a strong gravitational field actually slows down time. If you approach very near a Black hole, time becomes very slow indeed, and at the singularity itself, it may well stop, though we don't have a good idea what exactly happens.

Think 2d surface of planet in 3d space, but 3d surface of universe on 4d multiverse space. Sklivvz Sklivvz Distorts makes me think of crazy things like wormholes, but maybe that's just me.

I guess I envisage "distort" as somewhere in between in actual fact. The space-time manifold behave well deforms smoothly in almost all cases which is maybe why I don't like the word. Ken G Ken G 3, 1 1 gold badge 8 8 silver badges 11 11 bronze badges.