Lexic.us

Definition of Centrifugal force

1. Noun. The outward force on a body moving in a curved path around another body.

Definition of Centrifugal force

1. Noun. in everyday understanding, centrifugal force is the effect that tends to move an object away from the center of a circle it is rotating about (a consequence of inertia). ¹

2. Noun. (physics) : In a rotating reference frame, the apparent force that seems to push all bodies away from the centre of rotation of the frame and is a consequence of the body's mass and the frame's angular speed. It works in conjunction with the Coriolis force to give correct motion. ¹

3. Noun. (physics) : In circular motion, the 'reactive' centrifugal force is a real force applied ''by'' the accelerating body that is equal and opposite to the centripetal force that is acting ''on'' the accelerating body. ¹

4. Noun. (physics) : In polar coordinates, the apparent radial force that acts away from the center and is a consequence of the body's angular speed around the origin. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Centrifugal force

1. The apparent force which seems to pull an object outward when the object is spun around in a circle. In reality, it is the centripetal force which keeps the object rotating around in the circle when the object's inertia makes the object inclined to move in a straight tangential line away from the circle. The centrifugal force does not really exist and, in a strictly physical sense, the term is a misnomer. However, the term is useful to biologists and chemists who are using centrifuges. (13 Nov 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Centrifugal Force

Literary usage of Centrifugal force

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Mechanics by Lewis Raymond Smith (1922)
"The force with which the particle tends to leave the center s known as centrifugal force. The equal and opposite balancing force is known as centripetal ..."

2. An Introduction to Natural Philosophy: Designed as a Text Book, for the Use by Denison Olmsted (1854)
"The centrifugal force of bodies revolving in a given circle, ... By doubling the velocity of a revolving body, its centrifugal force is quadrupled. ..."

3. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"centrifugal force of a Rotating Body. — The, centrifugal force exerted by a rotating body on its axis of rotation is the same in magnitude as if Ou matt of ..."

4. The Popular Science Monthly (1877)
"centrifugal force" is a misnomer—a convenient fiction to represent resistance. ... Hence any explanation of phenomena that assigns " centrifugal force" as ..."

5. Physics of the Air by William Jackson Humphreys (1920)
"... (2) the horizontal component of the centrifugal force, due to the curvature of the path, and (3) the horizontal or gradient pressure, due to gravity. ..."

6. Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review by William B. Dana (1857)
"It is afterwards drawn cold, down to 38 on the same gauge, and so on, till it obtains the above length in miles. centrifugal force Ш REFINING SUGAR. ..."

7. A Treatise on Infinitesimal Calculus: Containing Differential and Integral by Bartholomew Price (1868)
"Hence *M *l" the centrifugal force of m = — (66) Centripetal and centrifugal forces are therefore the same quantity under different aspects. ..."

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