Chapter 6.2, Problem 25SSC

To determine

The agent that supplies the force.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Uniform circular motion: As the name of the term suggests, if an object is moving around in a circular motion along the circumference of the path, then that type of motion is known as uniform circular motion.

Centripetal acceleration: When the acceleration is radially directed towards the center of the circular path, then the acceleration is said to be centripetal acceleration.

It is known that gravity plays an important role in everyday life exists on Earth. The agent that supplies the force which causes centripetal acceleration that accelerates you is nothing but Earth’s gravity.

In physics, we refer to weight as a force acting normal to the Earth. There are two kinds of forces here: downward force which is called weight (= mg) and upward scale force. Due to circular motion, downward weight force will be greater than the upward scale force. So, because of Earth’s rotation, scale will measure less weight.

If you are in a uniform motion and standing on a scale, then it will measure a lower weight.

Conclusion:

The agent is Earth’s gravity.

Lower weight will be measured on scale.