2016 · Q40
A piece of stone tied to a string is made to revolve in a circular orbit of radius r with other end of the string as the centre. If the string breaks, the stone will:
general-sciencephysics-mechanics
- Amove away from the centre
- Bmove towards the centre
- Cmove along a tangent
- Dstop
Explanation
By Newton's first law, when the string breaks the centripetal force vanishes and the stone continues with its instantaneous velocity, which is tangential to the circular path. It does not fly radially outward or inward, nor does it stop instantly. Hence it moves along the tangent.