I have a general question regarding the centripetal force. In the example of a ferris wheel where there is a normal force pushing up against the person and the gravitational force pulling the person down, which force is centripetal? I know that the centripetal force counters the linear velocity, tangent to the circle of motion, which allows the object or person to stay in circular motion but which force is actually pulling it towards the center, the gravitational force or the normal force? Also, would it be correct to say that the net force equals zero (since the person is neither moving towards or away from the center) in this example or does the net force equal the centripetal force (since the centripetal force has to counter the linear velocity — if this is correct, how would I compare the two since linear velocity is not a force)?
I know that if a car is moving around a banked curve, the horizontal normal force will be centripetal but what about in other examples such as the ferris wheel? Also would the net force of a car moving around a bank curved be zero since it is neither moving towards or away the center?
tl;dr – is the net force in a centripetal force example zero or is the net force equal to the centripetal force? Also, how would I relate this to the linear velocity that cancels it out?
Thanks for the help!
Based on 
Best Answer
The centripetal force is not a physical force but rather the component of the force which points towards the center during circular motion. For the example of the Ferris wheel, the centripetal force depends on the position. For instance, if the the person is on the top of the ferris wheel, the gravitational and the normal force combined is the centripetal force, but if the person is in the bottom of the ferris wheel, the normal force minus the gravitational force is the centripetal force. The net force of a car moving around a bank curved is not zero, rather, because the net force is always pointing perpendicular to the velocity, the motion is circular and hence the car never moves toward or away from the center.