[Jeff]

nm golfer

You state-: "'m sorry you're sorry you cannot accept my explanation but I assure you it is the one and only technically correct one. First off the force is called tension (axial load)... and it has two components (one in the normal, perpendicular to path i.e. centripetal direction and one in the tangential direction.) The normal component of the tension force does not move the object closer to the center of rotation and therefore it does NO WORK! The tangential component on the other hand accelerated the object along the path. The tangential component (and this is the one thing BerntR and I can agree on) is what does the work."

You write that tension force has two components - a tangential component and a centripetal component. You then state that only the tangential component does work, because it propels the object along a a path. However, if the path is circular (rather than a straight path), then some other "force" must be doing work to make the object move along a circular path rather than a straight line path. In other words, that other "force" is doing "work" to centripetally accelerate the object (centripetal force is defined in Wikipedia as the force needed to move an object along a circular path rather than a straight path).

You write-: "The normal component of the tension force does not move the object closer to the center of rotation and therefore it does NO WORK! "

That statement makes no sense to me - if a moving object moves from a straight line path to a circular path, then it is moving closer to the center of rotation.

Merry Christmas to you!

Jeff.