An outward-directed "fictitious force" exerted on a body when it moves azimuthally in a noninertial rotating reference frame. For example, a rider standing on a carousel feels himself "pulled" outward as the carousel spins around. Centrifugal force is a fictitious force because it is a by-product of measuring coordinates with respect to a rotating coordinate system as opposed to an actual "push or pull."
The centrifugal force on a body of mass m is given by
where a is the centrifugal acceleration, v is the tangential velocity, r is the distance from the center of rotation and is the unit vector in the outward-pointing radial direction.
Centrifugal Acceleration, Centrifugal Force Inversion, Coriolis Force, Fictitious Force
