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Physics

Centrifugal Force

Consider a body of mass m placed on a table at a distance r from its centre. Suppose the table rotates with constant angular velocity ω  and the body remains at rest (due to friction). Let us first analyse the motion of the block relative to an observer on the ground (inertial frame).In this frame, the block is moving in a circle of radius r. It, therefore, has an acceleration    towards the centre. Now let us analyze the motion of the block relative to the table (non-inertial frame). In this frame the force on the bodywill be outwards the centre, as w.r.t the table the is at rest. Therefore, the body will have an acceleration  outwards the centre. This is called centrifugal force. Centrifugal force is basically a pseudo force.