With a knowledge of physical forces such as tension, gravity and friction, centripetal force becomes merely an extension of Newton's Laws. It is special, however, because it is uniquely defined by the velocity and radius of the uniform circular motion. All of Newton's Laws still apply, free body diagrams are still a valid method for solving problems, and forces can still be resolved into components. Thus the most important thing to remember regarding uniform circular motion is that it is merely a subset of the larger topic of dynamics.