Centripetal Force Calculator

An object moving at constant speed along a circular path is still accelerating, because its direction keeps changing — that acceleration points toward the center of the circle and has magnitude a = v²/r. The net inward force needed to produce it is centripetal force, F = ma = mv²/r, where m is the object's mass, v its speed, and r the radius of the circular path (a car rounding a curve, a ball on a string, a satellite in a circular orbit).

The calculator also reports angular velocity, ω = v/r in radians per second, and the period — the time for one full loop, T = 2πr/v — both computed straight from the metric (SI) values regardless of which unit system is active, since radians and seconds aren't toggled the way mass, velocity, and radius are.

Mass, velocity, and radius are converted to kilograms, meters per second, and meters before the formula runs, then force and acceleration are converted back to pounds-force and feet per second squared for imperial display — the same convert-to-canonical-then-back pattern this site's kinetic energy and torque calculators use.