 Quote by nomorevishnu
What is a centrifugal force?
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The centrifugal force is an outward-directed inertial force exerted on a body when it moves azimuthally in a noninertial rotating reference frame.
Some scientists use that term to refer to inertial forces. However this is not universally used since some scientists consider inertial forces to be
real (whatever that means).
Can't say unless you first tell us what you mean by "real"? As Ray D'Inverno wrote in his GR text
The status of inertial forces is again a controversial one. In my opinion is is quite real. A good example is the following
http://www.whoi.edu/science/PO/peopl.../class/aCt.pdf
For other examples of physicists with the same opinion consider the following:
From
Newtonian Mechanics, A.P. French, The M.I.T. Introductory Physics Series, W.W. Norton Pub. , (1971) , page 499. After describing the inertial force as seen from an accelerating frame of reference French writes
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From the standpoint of an observer in the accelerating frame, the inertial force is actually present. If one took steps to keep an object "at rest" in S', by tying it down with springs, these springs would be observed to elongate or contract in such a way as to provide a counteracting force to balance the inertial force. To describe such force as "fictitious" is therefore somewhat misleading. One would like to have some convenient label that distinguishes inertial forces from forces that arise from true physical interactions, and the term "psuedo-force" is often used. Even this, however, does not do justice to such forces experienced by someone who is actually in the accelerating frame of reference. Probably the original, strictly technical name, "inertial force," which is free of any questionable overtones, remains the best description.
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From
The Variational Principles of Mechanics - 4th Ed., Cornelius Lanczos, Dover Pub., page 98.
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Whenever the motion of the reference system generates a force which has to be added to the relative force of inertia I’, measured in that system, we call that force an “apparent force.” The name is well chosen, inasmuch as that force does not exist in the absolute system. The name is misleading, however, if it is interpreted as a force which is not as “real” as any given physical force. In the moving reference system the apparent force is a perfectly real force, which is not distinguishable in its nature from any other impressed force. Let us suppose that the observer is not aware of the fact that his reference system is in accelerated motion. Then purely mechanical observations cannot reveal to him that fact.
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From
Cosmological Physics, John A. Peacock, Cambridge University Press, (1999), page 6-7
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The 'weak equivalence principle' is a statement only about space and time. It says that in any gravitational field, however strong, a freely falling observer will experience no gravitational effects - with the important exception of tidal force in non-uniform fields. [...] It may seem that we have actually returned to something like the Newtonian viewpoint: gravitation is merely an artifact of looking at things from the 'wrong' point of view. This is really not so; rather, the important aspects of gravitation are not so much first order effects as second order tidal forces: They cannot be transformed away and are the true signature of gravitating mass. However, it is certainly true in one sense to say that gravity is not a 'real' force, the gravitational acceleration is not derived from a 4-force and transforms differently.
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.. Maybe i am not getting the idea of what a pseudo force is...
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Does this help?
Pete
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