Centripetal Force Calculator

This calculator finds the centripetal force needed to keep an object moving in a circle, along with its centripetal acceleration, angular velocity and the period of the motion. Any object travelling in a circular path is constantly changing direction, and changing direction means accelerating, even at a steady speed. That acceleration always points toward the centre of the circle, and the force producing it is the centripetal force. It is not a new kind of force but whatever real force happens to be doing the job: the tension in a string spinning a ball, the friction between tyres and the road as a car corners, gravity holding a satellite in orbit, or the track pushing on a rollercoaster. The size of the force depends on three things: the mass of the object, how fast it is going, and the radius of the circle. Crucially, it grows with the square of the speed, so doubling the speed quadruples the force, which is why cornering fast is so much more demanding than cornering slowly. This tool computes it all. You enter the mass, the speed and the radius, and the calculator returns the centripetal force, the centripetal acceleration, the angular velocity, and the time taken to complete one full circle. The results update as you type, so you can explore how speed and radius affect the force. Use it for physics homework, for understanding vehicle cornering and orbital motion, or for designing anything that spins. A key insight: if the available force, such as tyre grip, is less than the centripetal force required, the object cannot hold the circle and skids outward, which is exactly what happens when a car takes a bend too fast.

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Force = mass x speed squared / radius. Acceleration = speed squared / radius. Force grows with the square of speed. Rounded for display.