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How does centripetal force changes the direction of velocity isn't it a violation to Newton's second law of motion?

Physics Asked on January 22, 2021

Newton’s second law is a vector law.
When when we resolve it in component form along the x, y and z axes we can conclude that force changes only the component of velocity along it, for example if the only force is along x axis then only the velocity along x changes but not other two. So why, in uniform circular motion, does the centripetal force changes the direction of velocity even though it is perpendicular to velocity?

My reasoning is that at any instant say at $t = 0$ the force is along radius and perpendicular to velocity, at $t = dt$ the velocity perpendicular to force is unchanged both in magnitude and direction but a new velocity is gained $dv$ in $dt$ time which is along the radius and now the resultant velocity has the same magnitude as before approximately but a different direction.

Is my reasoning correct or is there some a other explanation?

One Answer

One can always express the position of some object with respect to some origin as a vector in as $mathbf r = r hat r$ where $mathbf r$ is the object's position vector, $r$ is the magnitude of that position vector, and $hat r$ is the unit vector parallel to $mathbf r$. Differentiating with respect to time yields $mathbf v equiv dot{mathbf r} = dot r hat r + r dot{hat r}$.

If the radial distance is constant, $dot r$ is identically zero. But what about $dot{hat r}$? This is a unit vector, which is a special case of a constant length vector. Consider a vector $mathbf x$ whose length is constant with respect to time: $||mathbf x||^2 = mathbf x cdot mathbf x= text{const}$. Differentiating with respect to time yields $mathbf x cdot dot{mathbf x} = 0$. In other words, the time derivative of a constant length vector is either zero or is normal to that constant length vector. A unit vector is obviously a special case of a constant length vector.

Answered by David Hammen on January 22, 2021

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