Central force

A force whose direction lies along the line joining an object to a fixed center and whose magnitude depends only on the object's distance from that center.

Angular momentum: The rotational analogue of linear momentum, conserved in an isolated system with rotational symmetry. A central force exerts no torque about its center, so angular momentum remains constant.
Force: An interaction that changes an object's momentum or produces deformation. A central force is a geometrically restricted kind of force.
Newton's law of universal gravitation: The law stating that two masses attract with a force proportional to their product and inversely proportional to distance squared. A point mass's gravitational field is a central inverse-square force.
Uniform gravitational field: A gravitational field treated as having constant magnitude and direction throughout a region. Unlike a central field, it does not point toward one fixed center or depend only on radius.
Torque: The turning effect of a force, equal to the cross product of position and force. The force's radial direction makes its torque about the center vanish.
Potential energy: Stored energy associated with the configuration of interacting objects. For conservative central forces, a radial potential generates the force through its derivative.
Coulomb's law: The electrostatic force between point charges, proportional to charge product and inversely proportional to distance squared. The force between two point charges is central, whether attractive or repulsive.
Harmonic oscillator: A system whose restoring force is proportional to displacement from equilibrium. An isotropic oscillator is central, but its linear force law contrasts with inverse-square examples.
Effective potential: A one-dimensional potential that combines physical potential energy with a centrifugal term. Conserved angular momentum lets central-force motion be analyzed through radial motion in this potential.
Radial coordinate: A coordinate measuring distance from a chosen origin or center. The central-force magnitude depends only on this distance.

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