Centripetal force (From latin centrum "center" and petere "to seek") is a force that makes a body follow

a curved path: it is always directed orthogonal to the velocity of the body, toward the instantaneous center of curvature of the path. The mathematical description was derived in 1659 by Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens. Isaac Newton's description was: "A centripetal force is that by which bodies are drawn or impelled or in any way tend, towards a point as to a center." Circular motion in which the speed is constant is called uniform circular motion. A centripetal acceleration o occurs whenever a moving object changes direction o does not change the speed of an object o acts at right angles to the velocity at any instant o is directed toward the center of a circle A centripetal force o is the force that makes a moving object change direction o is not a particular force, but the name given to the net force responsible for circular motion o acts at right angles to the velocity at any instant o is directed toward the center of a circle Directions in circular motion: o Velocity is tangential (lies on a tangent to the path). o Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force are radial (point toward the center of a circle). o Centripetal acceleration and velocity are always perpendicular. o Centripetal force and centripetal acceleration are always parallel. Magnitudes in circular motion

Fc = mac = m

v2 2r 2 1 = = mr2 v = r = = 2 = r T T T

A centrifugal force o is experienced by an object in a rotating reference frame o is a fictitious or apparent force o ceases to exist when an object stops moving in a circle o feels as though it is directed away from the center of a circle

Centrifugal force is sometimes referred to as a 'fictitious' force, because it is present only for an accelerated object and does not exist in an inertial frame. An inertial frame is where an object moves in a straight line at a constant speed. But Einstein's general theory of relativity allows observers even in a non-inertial frame to regard themselves at rest, and the forces they feel to be real. Centrifugal force is not fictitious, it is a real force. Centrifugal force arises due to the property of mass known as inertia - the reluctance of a body to change either its speed or direction. A body that is at rest will stay at rest until some force makes it move, and then will continue to move at the same speed and in the same direction unless and until some force changes the way it is moving. This is all neatly summed up by Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. (This is sometimes referred to as The Law of Inertia) II. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Centrifugal (center fleeing) force is the force pulling away from the origin; centripetal (center seeking) force is the force pushing towards the origin. A moving object with no force acting on it continues moving in a straight line. It takes a force to bend it away from a straight path. As long as an external force acts on the object and continues to point toward the same single point, the object will move in a circular path, and the force is called a "centripetal force". When the centripetal force suddenly shuts off, the object proceeds in a straight line, in the direction it was going at the instant when the centripetal force stopped, and naturally, the straight line takes it straight away from what used to be the center of its motion. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_centrifugal_force_and_centripetal_force#ixzz1aAqcSoeg Theory: An object moving in a circle at a constant speed is said to be undergoing "uniform circularmotion". Though the speed of the object is not changing, the direction of motion is which implies the object is experiencing acceleration. To cause this acceleration, there must be a force on the object. This force is directed toward the centre of the circle, so it is called a "centripetal force".

A fictitious or pseudo outward force on a particle rotating about an axis which by Newton's third law is equal and opposite to the centripetal force. Like all such action-reaction pairs of forces, they are equal and opposite but do not act on the same body and so do not cancel each other. Consider a mass M tied by a string of length R to a pin at the center of a smooth horizontal table and whirling around the pin with an angular velocity of radians per second. The mass rotates in a circular path because of the centripetal force FC = M2R which is exerted on the mass by the string. The reaction force exerted by the rotating mass M, the so-called centrifugal force, is M2R in a direction away from the center of rotation. See also Centripetal force. From another point of view, consider an experimenter in a windowless, circular laboratory that is rotating smoothly about a centrally located vetical axis. No object remains at rest on a smooth surface; all such objects move outward toward the wall of the laboratory as though an outward, centrifugal force were acting. To the experimenter partaking in the rotation, in a rotating frame of reference, the centrifugal force is real. An outside observer would realize that the inward force which the experimenter in the rotating laboratory must exert to keep the object at rest does not keep it at rest, but furnishes the centripetal force required to keep the object moving in a circular path. The concept of an outward, centrifugal force explains the action of a centrifuge. Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/centrifugal-force#ixzz1aAuiXait