Question

An illustration of a circle with an arrowhead on the circle pointing counterclockwise. at a point near the top of the circle is a dot with 4 vectors from it. Vector A is circular counterclockwise along the circle, vector c toward the center of the circle, a vector tangent to the circle and counterclockwise labeled B and a vector away from the center of the circle labeled D and a vector halfway between vectors B and D labeled C.
Aldis is swinging a ball tied to the end of a string over his head. Suddenly, the string breaks and the ball flies away.

Arrow
best represents the path the ball follows after the string breaks.

Answer 1

B.

When the string breaks the centripetal force vanishes, so the ball continues in a straight line with whatever instantaneous velocity it had — that velocity is tangent to the circle (vector B). The inward vector is the centripetal acceleration while the string was intact, not the direction of motion after release.