Question

What is the source of centripetal force that a planet requires to revolve around the Sun? On what factors does that force depend?

Answer 1

A planet requires centripetal force to revolve around the sun which is provided by the gravitational force of the sun on the planet.

As F = `"G"("M"_"s""M"_"p")/"r"^2`

the force depends on the mass of the sun (M_s), the mass of the planet (M_P) and the distance between the two (r).