Re: The old centrifugal force

[Bob LaMontagne <rlamont@POSTOFFICE.PROVIDENCE.EDU>]

In addition to mg, there are two other vectors that I would use when
presenting this to students. The first would be what you called the
constraint force, C, acting on the sliding object. However, I would have
it pointing radially inward (i.e. the normal force). The other would be
a frictional force on the sliding object. It would be pointing along a
tangent, opposite to the velocity. The vector sum of these three forces
can then be broken down into the sum of a tangential vector (this will
affect the speed of the slider) and a radial component (this is your
centripetal force).

Good Luck on Monday -

Bob at PC

Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
> My question was asked in the context trying to
> construct a free-body force diagram for an object
> sliding counter-clock-wise along a looping track,
> for example in the two o'clock location. The first
> arrow, representing the force m*g, and pointing
> down has already been drawn. What other
> arrows must be drawn and how should they be
> explain them to students?