Answer: acceleration towards the center of a circular path
centripetal acceleration
Comprehensive Physics Course. Amazing Educators. 24/7. Enroll Now & Master Physics Today
We call the acceleration of an object moving in uniform circular motion—resulting from a net external force—the centripetal acceleration ; centripetal means "toward the center" or "center seeking".
Centripetal acceleration is defined as the property of the motion of an object traversing a circular path. Any object that is moving in a circle and has an acceleration vector pointed towards the center of that circle is known as Centripetal acceleration. You must have seen various examples of centripetal acceleration in your everyday life.
More Centripetal Acceleration images
So centripetal acceleration is greater at high speeds and in sharp curves (smaller radius) as you have noticed when driving a car. But it is a bit surprising that ac is proportional to speed squared implying for example that it is four times as hard to take a curve at 100 km/h than at 50 km/h.
Whereas ordinary (tangential) acceleration points along (or opposite to) an object's direction of motion centripetal acceleration points radially inward from the object's position making a right angle with the object's velocity vector. In fact because of its direction centripetal acceleration is also referred to as "radial" acceleration.
This acceleration of a body moving in uniform circular motion is called centripetal acceleration. A centripetal acceleration example can be that of taking a sharp turn in a vehicle. If a person is holding the wheel constant while taking a turn he/she is in a uniform circular motion. Derivation Of C...