A Defense of the Centrifugal Force

Many people who have taken an intro-level physics course probably heard their instructor tell them that "centrifugal forces don't exist" or something similar. But what does it mean for a force to not be real? It turns out that the centrifugal force falls under what is known as a "fictitious force," or a force that arises from being in a non-inertial reference frame. These types of forces may not have the same origin as a typical external force like gravity or tension, but they still have very real physical consequences for observers in the non-inertial frame.

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[bravoalphahk]

Every force becomes "fictitious" or relative if you can manage to get out of its reference frame. The "fiction" of forces, as with other physical, social, or conceptual phenomena (e.g. "visible colours", "ownership", or "acceptable/understood language usage"), is just a somewhat arbitrary categorization of "how many observers share reference" and "how hard it is to switch the reference frame".

[KnowledgeIsPower-gujk]

Actually, anybody in motion has a tendency to travel in a straight line referred not to be in influence by gravity or any other field. So suppose here the car was moving towards north and suddenly it takes a U-turn but our body being in the inertia of motion tries to go still in the north direction, so we feel that there's a force acting on our body. Centripetal Force was assumed as a force to cancel out the centripetal force but actually the inertia of motion that is canceling it out. So it is told it is a virtual force.

[liam]

I'm a last year highschool student, and I've known that "The laws of physics are the same in whatever frame of reference you take" and that "All motion is relative". Are these statements correct? I was told that accelerating objects can't be taken as inertial reference frames, but if the object is accelerating or not isn't relative also? And for last: If I take Earth as reference frame the sun would be orbiting it, wouldn't the Universal Gravitational Law of newton be wrong?? Thanks

[ernestblundcron]

Not incorrect but highly confusing for beginners. People learning elementary physics never work in non-inertial frames.

[Suprdud]

Force means something that will cause acceleration. The force it directed toward the center because when you continue rotating, you move along the circle, thus inward. The reason you feel the pull in a car is because the top part of the car is not actually rotating at the same rate as the wheels. And thus you feel a tilting of the top of the car. This is why when you turn too quickly, the top is still where it was, but the bottom has moved. Thus, the center of mass for the car has moved.

[MysteryASMR]

People who say centrifugal force doesn’t exist aren’t real.

[KO-yeuc]

When you do the experiment practically, the result is not what you say.After all, it is all in ones mind.

[tand]

Suddenly it all went downhill for the beginner when Albert and Issac came in lol 😅

[TSBoncompte]

how is centrifugal force even real when our eyes aren't real

[franksmith]

If you swing a ball on a piece of elastic the elastic will stretch outwards radially due to the outward radial force exerted by the ball. An outward radial force is a centrifugal force.

[karlswanson]

Thought I would try out Chat GPT and ask it about using unbalance Centrifugal force as a means of propulsion. Expected an answer similar to the answer in Wikipedia and that is what it gave me at first. Not sure of the answer.

My question was:

Is it possible to create a uni directional force using centrifugal force?

Chat GPT response was:

No, it is not possible to create a unidirectional force using centrifugal force alone. Centrifugal force is a fictitious force that arises in a rotating frame of reference, and it acts in the opposite direction to the centripetal force, which is the force that keeps an object moving in a circular path.

I then described a system of consisting of two donut-shaped structures with fluid flowing in opposite directions and separated along the axis of rotation, which are not anchored and have aligned sections of unbalanced centrifugal force. The increased centrifugal force is accomplished by reducing the cross sectional area in equal length and adjacent segment of both structures. The increased speed of fluid flow in the section with reduced cross sectional area would have higher centrifugal force. If you reduce the cross sectional area by half you would have half the mass but it would be traveling twice as fast.

Chat GPT then responded:

"It is possible to use unbalanced centrifugal forces for propulsion, although the practicality and efficiency of such a system would depend on the specific design and application."

I know that Chat GPT is not specialized for physics so I do not know if this is true.

[KO-yeuc]

Your body tends to continue moving towards the initial direction and that is why that movement is observed; INERTIA

[bcvc]

Humans are limited by their brains and senses and cannot grasp the truth of this universe. Centrifugal forces are real and are easily manipulated by other beings in other planets and galaxies. Humans are living in a 3D world and are stuck in that reality but hopefully soon will be able to develop and evolve into higher consciousness and abilities. Have a great day! 👽

[TheEulerID]

There's some nonsense here. On the scale on the elevator floor, then it's measuring the extra force that's required to accelerate the individual over an above that required to overcome force from gravity. There is no extra force downwards, that's an illusion. Of course, standing on the scales (or on the elevator floor) you feel that extra force as something pushing you downwards, but that's not what's happening. You are feeling the reaction to that upward accelerating force.

[AnnieO]

The earth is level and stationary. Centrifugal Force is not suspended on any grander scale. We dwell under the firmament which is the footstool of Jesus! ❤