OBJECT: To determine empirically the functional relationship of the centripetal force (a) to the mass of the moving body, (b) to its tangential velocity and (c) to the radius of the circular arc in which the mass moves.
METHOD: The centripetal force acting on a pendulum bob, when the bob passes across its rest position, is measured directly with an equal arm balance. Data are taken to show how this force is dependent on the mass of the bob, on the radius of the arc, and on the tangential velocity of the bob. The centripetal force equation is derived from these data and the graphs are drawn.
