dextercioby said:
WHAT? It definitely exists.It's an inertial force (the name says:"centrifugal inertial force") and appears in every system which undergoes nonlinear movement.But only in the nonienrtial(accelerated) reference system.Did u ever go with a car/bus and took a turn...?
Daniel.
When you take a turn in a bus, although it may seem like a force is pushing you against the wall of the bus, this is not infact occurring. The reason you feel pushed is because you instantaneous velocity at that point is tangental to your circular path; your body is trying to travel into the wall.
Draw a free-body diagram of an object in circular motion. Do you draw a force vector pointing out of the circle? I hope not...
I think you and I have the same understanding of this concept, but are debating the semantic aspect, which is ultimately useless. According to
Wikipedia, which explains the concept well, centrifugal force is a fictitious force.
Here is their explanation of that. I guess I must admit that centrifugal force does exist, but I do not think circular motion is best thought of using it, especially at the high school level. It does not exist as a force the way other forces (such as the centripetal force) do in the inertial reference frame we are concerned with.
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Lorax:
In your question, the magnetic force is the centripetal force for the circular motion of the particle. Set F_{m} equal to F_{c}, and try to develop an expression for radius as a function of things you can find, such as mass, velocity, magnetic field strength, etc.
