Question

1. Al is twirling a ball horizontally around his head. The ball moves in a circle because

   1. there is a force on the ball pulling it outward.

   2. tension in the string continuously pulls the ball

      inward.

   3. once the ball starts moving, circular motion is its

      natural tendency.

   4. the ball’s force is perpendicular to its acceleration.

Answer 1

Al is twirling a ball horizontally around his head. The ball moves in a circle because there is a tension in the string continuously pulls the ball

inward. It is so because whenever a person twirls a ball horizontally , there develops a centripetal force in the string (in the form of tension)

which balances the centrifugal force and hence a circular motion is possible. if at any point the string breaks that is the centripetal force becomes 0 , then the ball flies off in the tangent direction (which the direction of instantaneous velocity at that point). also, the centripetal acceleration always point towards the center of circular motion whose magnitude is given by V^2/R , where V is the velocity of ball in uniform motion and R is the radius of the circular motion.

Please ask your doubts or queries in the comment section below.

Please kindly upvote if you are satisfied with the solution.

Thank you.