What is the name of the force that keeps an object moving in a circle?

What is the name of the force that keeps an object moving in a circle? It is called centripetal force.

Centripetal force is directed inward, toward the center of a circular path. It continually changes the direction of an object's velocity, even when the object's speed stays constant. Without an inward net force, the object would travel in a straight line tangent to the circle rather than curve around it.

The force is not a separate kind of interaction like gravity or friction. It is the name for whatever net force supplies the inward pull. Tension keeps a ball on a string moving in a circle, friction helps a car turn, and gravity keeps satellites and planets in orbit. The formula for uniform circular motion is F = mv²/r, where m is mass, v is speed, and r is radius.

A common mix-up is “centrifugal force.” In an inertial frame, centrifugal force is not the inward force maintaining the orbit; it is an apparent outward force used in a rotating reference frame. Isaac Newton introduced the term “centripetal,” meaning “center-seeking,” and Christiaan Huygens derived the circular-motion relationship in 1659.