English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

What's the defn of Centrifugal force? what does it mean? how's it different from centripetal force?

2007-03-13 20:44:11 · 8 answers · asked by Gaurav G 1 in Education & Reference Other - Education

8 answers

Centrifugal force is a term that refers to two different forces which are related to rotation. Both of them are oriented away from the axis of rotation, but the object on which they are exerted differs.

Basically centrifugal force is a circular force that pushes away bodies from the center of the rotation. A good example of centrifugal force is when you're riding a car. When a car turns around a sharp curve, the passengers seem to be pushed away from the curve.

Centripetal force is the other way around, instead of pushing the other body away from the axis of rotation, it moves closer and closer.

2007-03-13 20:56:33 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Centrifugal force (from Latin centrum "center" and fugere "to flee") is a term which may refer to two different forces which are related to rotation. Both of them are oriented away from the axis of rotation, but the object on which they are exerted differs.

A real or "reactive" centrifugal force occurs in reaction to a centripetal acceleration acting on a mass. This centrifugal force is equal in magnitude to the centripetal force, directed away from the center of rotation, and is exerted by the rotating object upon the object which imposes the centripetal acceleration. Although this sense was used by Isaac Newton,[1] it is only occasionally used in modern discussions.[2][3][4][5]
A pseudo or "fictitious" centrifugal force appears when a rotating reference frame is used for analysis. The (true) frame acceleration is substituted by a (fictitious) centrifugal force that is exerted on all objects, and directed away from the axis of rotation.
Both of the above can be easily observed in action for a passenger riding in a car. If a car swerves around a corner, a passenger's body seems to move towards the outer edge of the car and then pushes against the door.

In the reference frame that is rotating together with the car (a model which those inside the car will often find natural), it looks as if a force is pushing the passenger away from the center of the bend. This is a fictitious force--not an actual force exerted by some other object. The illusion occurs when the reference frame is the car, because that ignores the car's acceleration. A number of physicists treat it much as if it were a real force, as they find that it makes calculations simpler and gives correct results.

However, the force with which the passenger pushes against the door is very real. That force is called a reaction force because it results from passive interaction with the car which actively pushes against the body. As it is directed outward, it is a centrifugal force. Note that this real centrifugal force does not appear until the person touches the body of the car. The car also exerts an equal but opposite force on the person, called "centripetal force". In this case the centrifugal force is canceled by the centripetal force, and the net force is zero, thus the person does not accelerate with respect to the car.


The centripetal force is the external force required to make a body follow a circular path at constant speed. The force is directed inward, toward the center of the circle. Hence it is a force requirement, not a particular kind of force. Any force (gravitational, electromagnetic, etc.) can act as a centripetal force. The term centripetal force comes from the Latin words centrum ("center") and petere ("tend towards").

The centripetal force always acts perpendicular to the direction of motion of the body. In the case of an object that moves along a circular arc with a changing speed, the net force on the body may be decomposed into a perpendicular component that changes the direction of motion (the centripetal force), and a parallel, or tangential component, that changes the speed.

2007-03-13 21:03:54 · answer #2 · answered by graze 3 · 0 0

Centrifugal Force

2016-10-01 09:05:06 · answer #3 · answered by milak 4 · 0 0

Centrifugal force (from Latin centrum "center" and fugere "to flee") is a term which may refer to two different forces which are related to rotation. Both of them are oriented away from the axis of rotation, but the object on which they are exerted differs.

A real or "reactive" centrifugal force occurs in reaction to a centripetal acceleration acting on a mass. This centrifugal force is equal in magnitude to the centripetal force, directed away from the center of rotation, and is exerted by the rotating object upon the object which imposes the centripetal acceleration. Although this sense was used by Isaac Newton,[1] it is only occasionally used in modern discussions.[2][3][4][5]
A pseudo or "fictitious" centrifugal force appears when a rotating reference frame is used for analysis. The (true) frame acceleration is substituted by a (fictitious) centrifugal force that is exerted on all objects, and directed away from the axis of rotation.
Both of the above can be easily observed in action for a passenger riding in a car. If a car swerves around a corner, a passenger's body seems to move towards the outer edge of the car and then pushes against the door.

2007-03-13 20:51:21 · answer #4 · answered by angelicaisis 4 · 0 0

A "centrifugal tension" would be a tension that acts at as quickly as far off from the middle. There are some information, yet in fact there's no such element as centrifugal tension. What maximum folk think of of as centrifugal tension is unquestionably an artifact of inertia. A "centripetal tension" is a tension that acts in the direction of the middle. Any merchandise that's shifting in something different than a quickly line - something that's curving, in different words - is experiencing a centripetal tension. in case you place a stone on a string and swing it around your head, the string is exerting a centripetal tension on the stone. The Moon is orbiting the Earth - the Earth's gravitational field is exerting a centripetal tension on the Moon. A motor vehicle is going around a turn - friction from the line is exerting a centripetal tension on the tires of the motor vehicle.

2016-12-18 13:15:49 · answer #5 · answered by briana 4 · 0 0

centrifugal force can be defined as a pseudo force which acts on a particle at rest in a rotating frame of reference.it has a magnitude equal to mv2/r .
have you ever been on a merry go round?? did you notice that there is force which tries to move you radially outward?? this was actually the centrifugal force being experienced by you.

i assume that you know that we add an extra pseudo force if we work in an frame of reference , same is the case here,a frame rotating with a constant angular velocity is actually a
constantly accelerated frame, so if we work in this frame of
refrence then we have to add a pseudo force having magnitude of (mass)*(acceleration) in the opposite direction of the acceleration.now since the acceleration is equal to v2/r in the radial direction inwards, the centrifugal force acts radially outwards with magnitude mv2/r.also dont confuse centrifugal force and centripetal acceleration as one if a force acting on a body in a rotating reference while other is the acceleration of the body undergoing circular motion with respect to ground

for more information about your questions answer you can log on goiit.goiit is a portal for students who are preparing for
IIT-JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT, CET and all other engineering exams. It is a portal which provides IIT and JEE preparation material for students which is absolutely free for students. It is a portal, which aims to build a community of aspiring and successful students who help out each other

http://www.goiit.com/

2007-03-13 20:55:28 · answer #6 · answered by Abhishek G 2 · 0 0

centrifugal force is the force that acts on an object when spun. It is a result of the constant inertia of the object pushing it outwards, but due to a connection to the axis, it is impeded.

2007-03-13 20:47:46 · answer #7 · answered by Aaron 2 · 0 0

if you are holding a bucket of water, and you spin it around, then let it go, it is the force that makes the bucket fly straight out instead of following the path around the circle. it is always in a direction tangent to the circle that the object is moving in, meaning it will always want to go straight out if released.

2007-03-13 20:50:40 · answer #8 · answered by Tom B 4 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers