Describe, using a diagram, the forces acting on the system of an object tethered to a string, rotating around a fixed point in free space. Will the string ever become horizontal?

Firstly, I would start by drawing a diagram of the system on the whiteboard, showing the object attached to the string, and the string at a fixed point. I would show using arrows that the object was rotating at a velocity, v, at a radius, r, from the fixed point. Then I would proceed to label the forces. Firstly there is the centripetal force due to the rotation of the object, which points along the direction of the string towards the centre of the system. There is then a reaction force, also known as tension in the string, acting in equal magnitude and in the opposite direction to the centripetal force. Then, if the object is rotating in free space there is gravity acting upon the object, causing it to have a downwards force due to the weight of the object. The string would never be horizontal on Earth due to the weight of the object due to gravity, however if you went into space the string could become horizontal. Here I would draw a diagram of the forces acting upon the system as a triangle, showing how it can never reach horizontal on Earth, no matter the size of the centripetal force.