Hank Campbell

'Centrifugal force' may be the most incorrectly used term in popular media, so what is it?

When most people use the term centrifugal force, they mean centripetal - like in the example of twirling a can on the end of a string.   Centripetal force is not a new and different sort of force from gravity or electricity, centripetal instead means 'toward the center' - so like a can on a string or one of those spinning carnival rides, you are held in place by a center-directed force.

How so?   

In the case of the string, you notice you have to keep pulling on the string and the string transmits the centripetal force and pulls the can into a circular path.

A centripetal force is any force - gravitational, electrical, etc. - directed at right angles to the path of a moving body that produces circular motion.

So why is it you 'feel' what people call centrifugal force on a spinning carnival ride, since nothing is pulling on you?    The centrifugal force 'effect' is instead inertia, in that your body wants to follow a straight line path away from the center of the ride but centripetal force prevents that.