lets just say Particle (x) doesnt have any gravitational properties, not affected by gravity in any way. could

Question

it be affected by a centripital force if it encountered one? Thanks for your time

Answer 1

I see no reason why it couldn't. You could take said particle, attach it to a string, and spin it around.

Answer 2

There are no particles that are unaffected by gravity.

But besides that, the term centripetal force is a description of the nature of the force - it is acting towards the centre of circular motion (and perpendicular to the direction of travel) - not the type of force. This makes your question equivalent to asking " will a particle be affected by a force if it encounters a force" to which the answer is plainly yes.

For a planet in orbit, the centripetal force is provided by gravity so it is a gravitational force. For a stone swung on a string it is provided by the electrostatic force in the molecules of the string.

Answer 3

Just for the record, there is no such thing as a particle that is not affected by gravity. ALL particles, from the heaviest (like a proton or neutron) to the massless (like photons and, possibly, neutrinos) are affected by gravity, because gravity bends space-time through which all particles move. Even the so-called "dark matter" (theoretical) interacts gravitationally with other stuff.

Okay, but let's imagine such a particle could exist. It's difficult to imagine because "mass" and "gravity" are inextricably intertwined, but let's assume there is such a thing. My answer would then be yes, such a particle would be affected by centripetal acceleration because the acceleration involves (I assume) physical forces other than gravity.

But just to beat this topic to death, it is impossible to predict the behavior of such a particle because it could not exist.