⦿ Chapter : Circular Motion ⦿ Topic : Why the centrifugal force acting on a body revolving in circular orbit is callled as Pseudo Force or Fictitious Force ?
In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is parallel to the axis of rotation and passing through the coordinate system's origin. If the axis of rotation passes through the coordinate system's origin, the centrifugal force is directed radially outwards from that axis. The magnitude of centrifugal force F on an object of mass m at the distance r from the origin of a frame of reference rotating with angular velocity ω is:
Fc ' = mv^2/r ; Fc ' = mw^2r ...
Centrifugal force, a fictitious force, peculiar to a particle moving on a circular path, that has the same magnitude and dimensions as the force that keeps the particle on its circular path (the centripetal force) but points in the opposite direction.
A stone whirling in a horizontal plane on the end of a string tied to a post on the ground is continuously changing the direction of its velocity and, therefore, has an acceleration toward the post. This acceleration is equal to the square of its velocity divided by the length of the string. According to Newton’s second law, an acceleration is caused by a force, which in this case is the tension in the string. If the stone is moving at a constant speed and gravity is neglected, the inward-pointing string tension is the only force acting on the stone. If the string breaks, the stone, because of inertia, will keep on going in a straight line tangent to its previous circular path; it does not move in the outward direction as it would if the centrifugal force were real.
The concept of centrifugal force can be applied in rotating devices, such as centrifuges, centrifugal pumps, centrifugal governors, and centrifugal clutches, and in centrifugal railways, planetary orbits and banked curves, when they are analyzed in a rotating coordinate system.