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Re: The old centrifugal force



On Friday, Nov 14, 2003, John S. Denker 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. . . .

I was surprised that nobody criticized me for saying
that (both horizontally and vertically) the centripetal
force is the real reaction associated with the real
centrifugal force in the rotating frame of reference.

Do you know how the centripetal force can be
explained in a stationary (laboratory) frame? If you
do then please share your logical sequence. It is
not hard to explain that a centripetal force, of some
kind, must exist to account for the centripetal (v^2/r)
acceleration. But it is hard to identify that force in
some specific situations, for example, when an
object is sliding vertically inside a looping track.
If it is not an N3 reaction force then what is it?
Ludwik Kowalski