2007-06-18 06:08:16 · 5 answers · asked by leena 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
One of old Newt's laws is that, when the net force acting on a body is zero (so it's not accelerating wrt a reference frame), there is equal but opposite force for all forces. As you are hanging on for dear life in your car, you are not accelerating wrt to the driver's seat you are sitting in. So, the sum of all forces is zero on your body. You are not accelerating wrt to your car because f = ma = 0; so that a = 0 acceleration.
But wait, you feel a tug outward...what's that all about? Well, yes, you feel a tug outward, but if you'd just pay attention to your seat, you'd also feel it pushing on you in an equal but opposite direction to that outward tug. And that push on your bottom is called centripetal force and that's the force that is due to your turning the car in a circular path. That's the force generated to make the car not fly off on a straight path, which is what it really wants to do due to another of Newt's laws.
So there you are...as everyone else has said, that outward tug is called centrifugal force. And as a few others have indicated, centrifugal is consider by many as a "faux" force because it is simply the equal, but opposite reaction to centripetal force, the "vrai" force due to velocity changes.
2007-06-18 06:36:35 · answer #1 · answered by oldprof 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is not actually a force. People often call it a force, the centrifugal "force", though that is fictitious.
Keep in mind though that what is really at work is the person's inertia - a mass that is moving in a straight line shows resistance to acceleration, which includes changing direction. Therefore, this resistance to circular motion is really what he feels.
2007-06-18 13:12:12 · answer #2 · answered by Alfred Sauce 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Centrifugal force.
A person in an accelerating (and hence, non-inertial) reference frame experiences a force opposite the acceleration. Because his reference frame (the car) is accelerating inward to stay in a circle, the person experiences a force outward. Kind of like how you get pushed back in your seat when you hit the gas and pushed forward when you brake.
2007-06-18 13:11:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Centrifical Force
2007-06-18 13:10:53 · answer #4 · answered by sfs09_rrm 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Centrifugal force
2007-06-18 13:11:01 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋