To calcuate the magnitude and direction of the centripetal acceleration, we will first consider the displacement of an object as it moves from a point at the tip of vector r₁ to another point at the tip of r₂.  With the centre of the circle chosen as the origin, the displacement vector Dr will appear as shown below.  While the magnitudes of both vectors r₁ and r₂ are both equal to r, the radius of the circle, they point in different directions, and are separated by an angle q.
 

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