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As strange as it may seem at first, the ball is actually moving towards the center, its just that when the centripetal force pulls the ball towards the center, the objects preexisting speed moves it to another spot on the circle, stopping it from actually spiraling inwards.

One way to visualize this is to imagine that you throw a ball. Under normal circustance, when you throw the ball, it will go forward for a little bit but it will eventually be pulled down by gravity and hit the ground. Now, imagine that you could throw the ball so fast that by the time it falls 10 feet, it has gone far enough out form the Earth that there is another 10 feet to go before it reaches the ground. Thus, even though the ball is getting pulled towards the Earth, its falling as fast as its moving.

Its this combination of falling and moving that actually creates the circular motion. If the falling is faster than the moving, the object will just eventually spiral into whatever is pulling on it. Alternatively, if the moving is faster than the pulling, there will be an overall hyperbolic path, as the object gets close to the source of the pul but then shoots away.

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Q: In circular motion the acceleration is towards the center but why does not the ball moves towards the center?
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