As you know, it is common for any physical body to maintain its state of rest or uniform rectilinear motion until it is subjected to any impact from the outside. The centrifugal force is nothing but a manifestation of this universal law of inertia. In our life, it is found so often that we hardly notice it and react to it at the subconscious level.
Concept
The centrifugal force is a kind of influence that a physical point has on the forces that constrain the freedom of its movement and force it to move curvilinearly relative to the body connecting it. Since the displacement vector of such a body is constantly changing, even if its absolute speed remains unchanged, the acceleration value will not be zero. Therefore, due to Newton's second law, which establishes the dependence of force on the mass and acceleration of the body, andthere is a centrifugal force. Now let's remember the third rule of the famous English physicist. According to him, in nature, forces exist in pairs, which means that the centrifugal force must be balanced by something. Indeed, there must be something that keeps the body on its curvilinear trajectory! So it is, in tandem with the centrifugal force, the centripetal force also acts on the rotating object. The difference between them is that the first is attached to the body, and the second - to its connection with the point around which the rotation takes place.
Where the action of centrifugal force is manifested
It is worth unwinding a small load that is tied to a twine by hand, as soon as the tension of the twine begins to be felt. If there were no elastic force, the effect of centrifugal force would cause the rope to break. Every time we move along a circular path (by bicycle, car, tram, etc.), we are pressed in the opposite direction from the turn. Therefore, on high-speed tracks, on sections with sharp turns, the track has a special slope to give greater stability to the competing racers. Let's consider another interesting example. Since our planet rotates around its axis, the centrifugal force acts on any objects that are on its surface. As a result, things become a little easier. If you take a weight of 1 kg and move it from the pole to the equator, then its weight will decrease by 5 grams. With such meager values, this circumstance seems insignificant. However, with increasing weight, this difference increases. For example,a steam locomotive arriving in Odessa from Arkhangelsk will become 60 kg lighter, and a battleship weighing 20,000 tons, which has traveled from the White Sea to the Black Sea, will become 80 tons lighter! Why is this happening?
Because the centrifugal force arising from the rotation of our planet tends to scatter everything that is on it from the surface of the Earth. What determines the value of centrifugal force? Again, remember Newton's second rule. The first parameter that affects the magnitude of the centrifugal force, of course, is the mass of the rotating body. And the second parameter is the acceleration, which in curvilinear motion depends on the rotation speed and the radius described by the body. This dependence can be displayed as a formula: a=v2/R. It turns out: F=mv2/R. Scientists have calculated that if our Earth rotated 17 times faster, then there would be weightlessness at the equator, and if a complete revolution took place in just one hour, then weight loss would be felt not only at the equator, but also in all seas and countries, which are adjacent to it.
