JJ508

ENGINEERING LABORATORY 3
EXPERIMENT

: EXPERIMENT 1 (MECHANICS OF MACHINES)

TITLE

: CENTRIFUGAL FORCE

NAME
DARSHINI A/P BALAKRISHNAN
SITI ARFAH BTE AZIZ
MOHD NIZAR BIN MOHD NAIM
MOHD NOR AFFIZAN BIN AMRAN

MATRIX NO
15DKM11F2013
15DKM11F2016
15DKM11F2014
15DKM11F2021

LECTURER

: PN. RAFIDAH LAILA BINTI JASWADI

DATE OF SUBMISSION

: 31/12/2013

OBJECTIVE

1. To investigate the dependency of centrifugal force on the rotational speed.

2. To investigate the dependency of centrifugal force on the size of the rotating mass.
3. To investigate the dependency of centrifugal force on the radius of rotation.

EQUIPMENT

: Centrifugal Force Apparatus (TM 600)

The core of the unit is a rotating arm with a vertical axis of rotation. Mass bodies made of metal
are anchored to the arm in retaining holes. The centrifugal force exerted is transmitted from the
arm to a bending bar. The deformation of the bar, which is proportional to the force, is recorded
by an electronic measuring system and is displayed digitally. The rotation speed of the regulated
drive motor, also displayed digitally, can be continuously adjusted using a 10-turn potentiometer.

THEORY

Centrifugal force meaning is the apparent force that draws a rotating body away from the center
of rotation. It is caused by the inertia of the body as the body's path is continually redirected. In
Newtonian mechanics, the term centrifugal force is used to refer to one of two distinct concepts:
an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" force) observed in a non-inertial reference frame, and a
reaction force corresponding to a centripetal force.
The concept of centrifugal force is applied in rotating devices such as centrifuges, centrifugal
pumps, centrifugal governors, centrifugal clutches, etc., as well as in centrifugal railways,
planetary orbits, banked curves, etc. These devices and situations can be analyzed either in terms
of the fictitious force in the rotating coordinate system of the motion relative to a center, or in
terms of the centripetal and reactive centrifugal forces seen from a non-rotating frame of
reference; these different forces are equal in magnitude, but centrifugal and reactive centrifugal
forces are opposite in direction to the centripetal force.
The conception of centrifugal force has evolved since the time of Huygens, Newton, Leibniz,
and Hooke who expressed early conceptions of it. Its modern conception as a fictitious force
arising in a rotating reference frame evolved in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Centrifugal force has also played a role in debates in classical mechanics about detection of
absolute motion. Newton suggested two arguments to answer the question of whether absolute
rotation can be detected: the rotating bucket argument, and the rotating spheres argument.
According to Newton, in each scenario the centrifugal force would be observed in the object's
local frame (the frame where the object is stationary) only if the frame were rotating with respect

to absolute space. Nearly two centuries later, Mach's principle was proposed where, instead of
absolute rotation, the motion of the distant stars relative to the local inertial frame gives rise
through some (hypothetical) physical law to the centrifugal force and other inertia effects.
Today's view is based upon the idea of an inertial frame of reference, which privileges observers
for which the laws of physics take on their simplest form, and in particular, frames that do not
use centrifugal forces in their equations of motion in order to describe motions correctly.The
analogy between centrifugal force (sometimes used to create artificial gravity) and gravitational
forces led to the equivalence principle of general relativity.

2 N
60

Where N is the number of rotation per minute

Where F = Force
M = Mass
= angular velocity

From Newtons Second Law:

F = ma
F = Force
m = mass
a = acceleration

PROCEDURE

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Safety block located at the rotating arm was taken out.

The Centrifugal Force Apparatus was switch on.
The speed was set by adjusting the potentiometer to zero.
50g mass was set at the rotating arm.
The transparent protective lid was placed to covers all rotating parts.
The potentiometer was set to the 100rpm .
The centrifugal force reading was recorded.
Step 3-7 was repeated by using different speed and mass .

DATA / RESULTS

1) m = 0.05kg

r = 0.125m

EXAMPLE CALCULATION :
N = 100
=

2 N
60

2
F = mr

2 100
60

2
F = 0.05 0.125 10.472

= 10.472

F = 0.685 N
Fcal

Fcal (N ) -

Fexp ( N ) = 0.685 N - 0.65 N

= 0.0353 N

(N) = 0.685 N ,

Fexp

(N) = 0.65 N

SPEED (N)

100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450

10.472
15.708
20.944
26.179
31.416
36.652
41.888
47.124

2) m = 0.075kg

MEASURED FORCE,
Fexp
(N)

CALCULATED
Fcal
FORCE,
(N)

0.65
1.45
2.5
3.55
4.25
5.0
5.65
6.15

0.685
1.542
2.742
4.283
6.169
8.396
10.966
13.879

Fcal

Fexp (N )
0.0353
0.092
0.242
0.733
1.919
3.396
5.316
7.729

r = 0.1m

EXAMPLE CALCULATION :
N = 100
=

2 N
60

2
F = mr

2 100
60

2
F = 0.075 0.1 10.472

= 10.472

F = 0.822 N
Fcal

Fcal (N ) -

Fexp ( N ) = 0.822 N - 0.85 N

= - 0.028 N

(N) = 0.822 N ,

Fexp

(N) = 0.85 N

SPEED (N)

100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450

MEASURED FORCE,
Fexp
(N)

CALCULATED
Fcal
FORCE,
(N)

0.85
1.7
3.0
4.0
4.7
5.4
5.95
6.3

0.822
1.850
3.289
5.140
7.402
10.075
13.159
16.655

10.472
15.708
20.944
26.179
31.416
36.652
41.888
47.124

3) m = 0.1kg

Fcal

Fexp (N )
-0.028
0.15
0.289
1.14
2.702
4.675
7.209
10.355

r = 0.075m

EXAMPLE CALCULATION :
N = 100
=

2 N
60

F = mr

2 100
60

F = 0.1 0.075 10.472

= 10.472

Fcal (N ) -

F = 0.822 N
Fcal

Fexp ( N ) = 0.822 N - 0.9 N

= - 0.0775 N

(N) = 0.822 N ,

Fexp

(N) = 0.9 N

DISCUSSION

1. Based on the data collected and the calculation done, we found that calculated force
Fcal
reading,
(N) reading is higher compared to measured force, Fexp (N ) .
2. Centrifugal force increases as the rotation speed, size of the rotating mass and radius of
rotation increases thus the calculation force also increases.
3. Besides that, external force due to atmosphere surrounding also influences the force
reading.
4. The centrifugal force reading is not accurate because the centrifugal force apparatus
shows many reading at one time.

CONCLUSION

1. As the radius of the rotation increases, the force also increases.

2. The higher the speed (N), the higher the force measured.
3. The higher the mass , the higher the force measured.