When I say centrifugal, I mean centrifugal!

In various places on my site and in this blog, I have mentioned centrifugal force. Invariably when I do so, someone pedantically comes along and says "That's not a real force! It's fictional! It's really just centripetal force". Let me clear and blunt here: that's wrong. Centrifugal force is every bit as real as centripetal force. It's just in a different frame. "Centripetal" means "center-seeking", and "centrifugal" means "outwards-seeking" or, more literally, "center-fleeing". You'd think these are opposites, but they are in fact the same thing! It just depends on your point of view. If you are standing outside a spinning object, and then draw a diagram of the forces, yes, you're better off using centripetal force. The math works out more easily. But if you're on that spinning object, then the forces are easier to draw assuming a centrifugal force. Really! Think of it this way: watch a car ...