360° Bicycle
Mechanics in Motion · Interactive
- DimensionsSubject to on-site plan
- PresentationInteractive
- PricingQuoted by manufacture spec
Purpose & Scientific Principle
The exhibits allow the audience to participate in the ride and experience the principle of centripetal force and the virtual force extended from Newton's law of motion - centrifugal force.
How to Operate
Centripetal force only changes the direction of motion of the controlled object, but does not change the rate of motion, even in non-uniform circular motion. In non-uniform circular motion, the tangential acceleration that changes the speed of motion is not produced by centripetal force. The size of the centripetal force is closely related to the mass of the object (m), the length of the circumferential radius of the object's movement (r) and the angular velocity (ω).
The property of an object remaining at rest or moving in a straight line at a uniform speed is called inertia. Newton's third law states that for every force, there is an equal and opposite force.
Centrifugal force is a virtual force, a manifestation of inertia, that moves a rotating object away from its center of rotation. In a rotating system, centripetal force pulls the object inward to maintain a curved path, while the inertia of the object due to its mass forces the object to continue moving in the tangent direction of the motion trajectory (the straight line direction it originally advanced at that moment). In each case, only one real force is exerted, and the other is simply a reaction force.
Centripetal force refers to the total external force directed toward the center of the circle (center of curvature) when an object moves along a circle or curved track in classical mechanics. This effect can be produced by any force such as elasticity, gravity, friction, etc., or it can be provided by the resultant force or components of several forces.
Because circular motion is a curved motion, an object in circular motion will also be acted upon by a combined external force in a direction different from its speed. For an object in circular motion, centripetal force is a pulling force whose direction changes as the object moves in a circular orbit. This pulling force is directed along the radius of the circle toward the center of the circle, hence the name "centripetal force." The centripetal force points to the center of the circle, and the object controlled by the centripetal force moves in a tangential direction, so the centripetal force must be perpendicular to the direction of motion of the controlled object, and only produces acceleration in the direction of the normal line of the velocity.
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