Question

A piece of stone tied at the end of thread is whirled in a horizontal circle with uniform speed with the help of hand. Answer the following questions:

1. Is the acceleration of the stone uniform or variable?

2. What is the direction of acceleration of stone at any instant?

3. Which force provides the centripetal force required for circular motion?

Answer 1

Explanation:

1. Variable.

2. Towards the centre

3. For an object moving in a circle, there must be an inward force acting upon it in order to cause its inward acceleration. This is sometimes referred to as the centripetal force requirement. The word centripetal (not to be confused with the F-word centrifugal) means center seeking. For object's moving in circular motion, there is a net force acting towards the center which causes the object to seek the center

Answer 2

1. A piece of stone tied at the end of thread is whirled in a horizontal circle with uniform speed with the help of hand.

• Now, we know that acceleration is a vector quantity and is determined both by magnitude as well as direction.
• So, the direction of the acceleration is changing every second, hence, acceleration is variable.

2. At any $\rm inst ant$, the direction of acceleration is radially inwards towards the centre, the main acceleration in this case is centripetal acceleration.

3. The tension provided by the boy in the strings is providing the centripetal acceleration to move the object in a horizontal circle.

$\star$ Hope It Helps.