Why is Centrifugal force “not real”? I remember my physics teacher in high school pushing that idea and understanding why back then, but I do not remember now. I also forgot so much about physics in general that a simple would be much appreciated!
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The other commenters have done a great job explaining, but just FYI, in my first year of my degree, my lecturer said “okay now we’re out of school, is everyone comfortable with centrifugal force existing again?”
What he meant by that was that centrifugal force is a mathematical construct; but SO IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE so it’s just as “real” as any other force…
centrifugal = away from center.
When you spin an object on a string, there’s no force pushing it away. In fact, it’s the very opposite: the string is pulling on the object to keep it on a circular path. That’s the centripetal force.
Yet if you were sitting on said object, you would feel like you are being yanked away from the center. If you sat in a seat facing the center of the circle, your back would be pressed against it. And yet there’s no real force pushing you away, it’s just your momentum that’s trying to keep you moving in a straight line, and the string counteracting that by pulling. That’s why you feel like you’re being repelled towards the outside.
_Centrifugal force_ is what you perceive as something pushing you outwards as you go around a corner/curve. Nothing is pushing you outwards (hence _not real_).
What is actually happening is that your vehicle is being accelerated inwards, but your momentum tries to take you in the same direction you’re already moving. You end up with the sensation of being forced outward.
In physics you’d have discussed this as relativity, the effects of accelerating reference frames, and circular motion.
centrifugal = away from center.
When you spin an object on a string, there’s no force pushing it away. In fact, it’s the very opposite: the string is pulling on the object to keep it on a circular path. That’s the centripetal force.
Yet if you were sitting on said object, you would feel like you are being yanked away from the center. If you sat in a seat facing the center of the circle, your back would be pressed against it. And yet there’s no real force pushing you away, it’s just your momentum that’s trying to keep you moving in a straight line, and the string counteracting that by pulling. That’s why you feel like you’re being repelled towards the outside.
Additional question. It’s one of those funny words that gets said in multiple ways around the English speaking world. So I’m kinda curious which people here say (and your accent)?
– sentry few jal (heard a lot)
– sentry few gal (also heard a lot)
– cent riff e cal (my dad with a York accent says this in a super specific way lol sennnntrifical)
Personally I can never decide, I hear all 3 in Australia.
_Centrifugal force_ is what you perceive as something pushing you outwards as you go around a corner/curve. Nothing is pushing you outwards (hence _not real_).
What is actually happening is that your vehicle is being accelerated inwards, but your momentum tries to take you in the same direction you’re already moving. You end up with the sensation of being forced outward.
In physics you’d have discussed this as relativity, the effects of accelerating reference frames, and circular motion.
_Centrifugal force_ is what you perceive as something pushing you outwards as you go around a corner/curve. Nothing is pushing you outwards (hence _not real_).
What is actually happening is that your vehicle is being accelerated inwards, but your momentum tries to take you in the same direction you’re already moving. You end up with the sensation of being forced outward.
In physics you’d have discussed this as relativity, the effects of accelerating reference frames, and circular motion.
Centrifugal force is “not real” because pretentious assholes like to pretend they’re very smart. Just ask them what the equal and opposite force to the centripetal force is, and what they would call it.
As an example, if you are in a car making a sharp turn, you feel like you are being pushed into the side of the car. But what is happening is that your inertia resists the change in direction, and the side of the car is pushing on your body to cause it to accelerate in the direction of the turn. This feels to you just like a gravitational force pushing you away from the center of the turn (and Albert Einstein says they’re indistinguishable).
But because baby physicists only do inertial reference frames and never accelerating reference frames, they can’t use the perspective of what it looks like to you. In any case, they get so caught up explaining, that they forget that the whole thing was originally called the centrifugal force.
**In summary, inertia is what keeps your body moving straight such that side of the car pushes into you, centripetal force is what accelerates your body into following the curve, and centrifugal force is the force your body exerts on the car.**
centrifugal = away from center.
When you spin an object on a string, there’s no force pushing it away. In fact, it’s the very opposite: the string is pulling on the object to keep it on a circular path. That’s the centripetal force.
Yet if you were sitting on said object, you would feel like you are being yanked away from the center. If you sat in a seat facing the center of the circle, your back would be pressed against it. And yet there’s no real force pushing you away, it’s just your momentum that’s trying to keep you moving in a straight line, and the string counteracting that by pulling. That’s why you feel like you’re being repelled towards the outside.
Additional question. It’s one of those funny words that gets said in multiple ways around the English speaking world. So I’m kinda curious which people here say (and your accent)?
– sentry few jal (heard a lot)
– sentry few gal (also heard a lot)
– cent riff e cal (my dad with a York accent says this in a super specific way lol sennnntrifical)
Personally I can never decide, I hear all 3 in Australia.
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