A boy is whirling a stone tied to a string in a horizontal circular path. What will happen to the stone if the string breaks?

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Move along a straight line towards the Centre of the circular path

Move along a straight line perpendicular to the circular path away from the boy

Move along a straight line tangential to the circular path

Continue to move in the circular path

answer is D.

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Detailed Solution

When the boy is whirling a stone tied with a string in a circular path, the centripetal force works towards the centre of the circular path. However, when the string breaks the centripetal force acting toward the centre ceases and hence no force acts on the system.

Thus, as per Newton's first law, the stone would continue in a straight line and fly off along the tangent to the circular path.

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