Centrifugal Force

In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force directed away from the axis of rotation that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference.

For example, if a ball is being swung at the end of a rope of length \(r,\) then the magnitude of the centrifugal force needed to counter balance the centripetal force is given by

\[ F = \frac{mv^2}{r},\]

where

• \(m \) is the mass of the ball at the end of the rope;
• \(r \) is the length of the rope;
• \(v \) is the speed with which the ball is moving.

Centrifugal force is the force that makes objects move outwards when they are spinning around something or traveling in a curve.

For this problem, the gravitational force is given by \(mg,\) where

• \(m \) is mass of the object;
• \( g = 10 \text{ m/s}^2.\)