Centrifugal Force

What is centrifugal force? Centrifugal force is the way in which objects are thrown out from the centre when they are spun very quickly.

Centrifugal force is shown by these people being whirled up and out on a fairground ride.

This is the effect that works on anything that is spinning. The result is to try to throw the object outward. If you watch a dog shake itself, you will see that it spins its body and this throws the water off - by centrifugal force.

If something cannot be thrown out because it is attached, such as a fairground ride, then it simply rises off the ground. It becomes horizontal if the spin speed is fast enough.

Explore these further resources...

(These links take you to other parts of our web site, never to outside locations.)

You can search in these books:


You can look in this topic for more books, videos and teacher resources:

Jump to Forces toolkit screen
The toolkit screen link will take you to a library containing a selection of:
an i-topic, more books, pictures, videos and teacher's stuff related to the search word.
© Curriculum Visions 2021