Re: The old centrifugal force

["John S. Denker" <jsd@AV8N.COM>]

On 11/14/2003 06:44 PM, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
> In the rotating frame of reference I would say
> that the centripetal normal force is the reaction
> force due to the centrifugal force. The centrifugal
> force acts on the circular road and the constraining
> (centripetal) force is nothing else but the reaction
> force from the road.

Yes.

> But how can the above
> question be answered without introducing the
> concept of the centrifugal force?

It can't.

The centrifugal field is as real as the
gravitational field.

If you work in a rotating frame, there will
be centrifugal effects and Coriolis effects.

Note that just like gravity, centrifugity is
an *acceleration* field, not a force field.

For students who don't understand this, sometimes
it helps to pick a couple of problems and analyze
each problem twice, once in the lab frame and once
in the rotating frame.

For details and diagrams, see
  http://www.av8n.com/how/htm/motion.html#sec-centrifuge