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Suppose that we have an object moving in uniform circular motion, with the radius of the circle denoted and the constant angular velocity denoted .
Let , , and denote the position, velocity, and acceleration at time . Note that all three of these are vector-valued functions.
We choose a convenient origin and point so that the following holds: Differentiating, Notice that the acceleration is always in the opposite direction of the position.
This acceleration is called the centripetal acceleration, or the center-seeking force, since it is always pointed toward the center of rotation. It is this acceleration that keeps the object rotating.
Calculating the magnitude of the acceleration and denoting this , Thus, the centripetal acceleration is equal to the angular velocity squared times the radius.
One may alternatively express as follows: where is the magnitude of the velocity.