What is the different between centrifugal force and centripetal?

Answer 1

Centripetal force is directed toward the center of rotation of an orbiting body or object following a curved path. Centrifugal force is the apparent force, equal and opposite to the centripetal force, drawing a rotating body away from the center of rotation, caused by the inertia of the body. Whenever you see a moving object that's not traveling in a straight line, you know that a force is acting upon it. That's because objects tend to resist changes to their velocities. The greater the mass, the greater the resistance to changes in velocity. That's called inertia. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by some external force. (See Newton's First Law.) Since velocity is a vector -- remember vectors have magnitude AND direction -- any change in an object's direction constitutes a changes in its velocity. When an object is flying around in a circle, its velocity is constantly changing because its direction is constantly changing! That means a force is working on it. That force is the centripetal force, and since force is equal to mass times acceleration, there must be an acceleration involved. You guessed it -- centripetal acceleration. There is a girl on a bike with a jump rope. Her spinning the bike pedals in centripetal force, though her spinning the jump rope around her is centrifugal force. The pedals are designed to keep the motion contained in a small area, keepiing the girl's feet right where they are, but the jump rope lashes out, with the chance of the girl losing her grip on it, due to its force. Centripetal Force is more directed towards the center of the axis of rotation of an object following an elliptical or circular path. Centrifugal Force is the force that pulls away from the center because of the objects inertia. Example: If you took a rock, tied it to a string, and swung it around, the force from the center of the axis of rotation is centripetal force. The force that causes the rock to pull away from the center, is centrifugal force. If you have ever been in a fast moving car that sharply turns and you feel as if you are pulled to the side, that too is centrifugal force caused by your inertia. The more mass the more inertia.

Answer 2

A moving object with no force acting on it continues moving in a straight line. It

takes a force to bend it away from a straight path. As long as an external force

acts on the object and continues to point toward the same single point, the object

will move in a circular path, and the force is called a "centripetal force", which means

"center seeking".

Now, hold onto your seat: "Centrifugal" force doesn't exist. It's a make-believe,

made-up thing, that's not really there.

When the centripetal force suddenly shuts off, the object proceeds in a straight

line, in the direction it was going at the instant when the centripetal force stopped,

and naturally, the straight line takes it straight away from what used to be the

center of its motion. We see the object take off straight away from the former

center, and we say "Gee, there must be a force pulling it away from there." But

there isn't any.

That "force" that you think you feel when the car turns a corner and you get

pressed against the door, away from the curve ? That's just the tendency of

your body to want to keep moving in a straight line, and its reaction to the

centripetal force that the car-seat and the door are exerting on you in order

to make your body move in a curved path. There is no "centrifugal" force.