A central force is a force that points along the (positive or negative) radial direction \(\boldsymbol{\hat{r}}\), and whose magnitude depends only on the distance r to the origin - so \(\boldsymbol{F...A central force is a force that points along the (positive or negative) radial direction \(\boldsymbol{\hat{r}}\), and whose magnitude depends only on the distance r to the origin - so \(\boldsymbol{F}(\boldsymbol{r})=F(r) \hat{\boldsymbol{r}}\).