On Sunday, 9 August 2015 16:47:13 UTC+1, RedAcer wrote:
On 08/08/15 12:26, Alastair wrote:
I learnt my Kinematics at University while studying for an
engineering degree, not from some smart alec teacher. Yours wasn't
Dawlish by an chance? OK the centrifugal force is not a force field
like gravity, magnetism, etc., but the centrifugal force can be
calculated, see your link which describe it
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/phys...ugalForce.html . That
link is proof enough for me. Strange that one can get so many hits
for centrifugal force if it does not exist.

Nonsense. If you were in a seat on a roundabout facing inwards then you
would feel a force pressing into you back forcing you to move in a circle.
Try this experiment. Take a short piece of sting with a weight on the
end and whirl it round in a vertical circle. As the weight is at the top
of the circle, let go. If there was a centrifugal force it should move
outwards. It doesnt though. It will move off horizontally at a tangent
to the circle.

Hmm, some doubtful stuff there. From the point of view of the rotating body centrifugal force certainly exists and is a useful if non-rigorous concept. When you let go of the string the body the body certainly does initially accelerate outwards at a rate determined by the previous centrifugal force.

Tuor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.