If you're whirling around inside a rotating space station, what is the direction of the force that keeps you in circular motion?
2006-09-06 16:55:00 · 7 answers · asked by MegN 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Down the axis of rotation.
A spinning top presses harder into the ground than when it is upright with just gravity operating on it and it's not rotating .
2006-09-06 17:02:24 · answer #1 · answered by Bart S 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The primary direction of force is from the outside of the space station towards the center of the space station. It is the space station pushing against you that keeps you in a circular motion. It is not gravity.
If the space station was to suddenly disappear, you would continue in a strait line in the direction you were traveling at the moment the space station disappeared.
The friction of your contact with the space station continuously alters your direction so that you move in a circular motion.
2006-09-07 00:50:59 · answer #2 · answered by justjim 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The force that keeps a space station orbiting is towards the point of greatest gravitational power. If you're orbiting the Earth, that point is approximately at the center of the Earth, and assuming the orbit is round, it will be in the middle of the orbit (an elliptical orbit will have this point nearer to one end, and the space station will be going faster at that end).
The force that keeps a space station revolving by itself, regardless of its orbit, goes in a different direction depending on where you are on the space station; it goes in a tangent from the circle that point makes around the space station's center of mass as it rotates.
2006-09-07 00:01:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
outward force. constantly changing. Inirtia is the resistance to a change in direction, therefore the "gravity" on a space station is created by the force constantly changing direction and therefore always going outward from the center of the rotation.
2006-09-07 00:06:38 · answer #4 · answered by Scott B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The instantaneous force is always at right angles to the instantaneous velocity.
In the case of an orbiting spacecraft, it's the force created by gravitational acceleration acting on the mass of the spacecraft.
Doug
2006-09-07 00:22:46 · answer #5 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The direction would be towards the axis of rotation. In other words towards the center. This is usually called a centripetal force.
2006-09-07 00:01:06 · answer #6 · answered by Demiurge42 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
isn't that centripical force....spelling is wrong?
2006-09-06 23:58:20 · answer #7 · answered by godsimage74 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋