Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us
Centrifugal force is a fictitious force in Newtonian mechanics (also called an "inertial" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It appears to be directed radially away from the axis of rotation of the frame.
The ellipsoid is a mathematically defined regular surface with specific dimensions. The geoid, on the other hand, coincides with that surface to which the oceans would conform over the entire Earth if free to adjust to the combined effect of the Earth's mass attraction (gravitation) and the centrifugal force of the Earth's rotation.
The weight of an object on Earth's surface is the downwards force on that object, given by Newton's second law of motion, or F = m a (force = mass × acceleration). Gravitational acceleration contributes to the total gravity acceleration, but other factors, such as the rotation of Earth, also contribute, and, therefore, affect the weight of the ...
Centrifugal force is one of several so-called pseudo-forces (also known as inertial forces), so named because, unlike real forces, they do not originate in interactions with other bodies situated in the environment of the particle upon which they act. Instead, centrifugal force originates in the rotation of the frame of reference within which ...
Lagrange points in the Sun–Earth system (not to scale). This view is from the north, so that Earth's orbit is counterclockwise. A contour plot of the effective potential due to gravity and the centrifugal force of a two-body system in a rotating frame of reference.
All points on a geoid surface have the same geopotential (the sum of gravitational potential energy and centrifugal potential energy). At this surface, apart from temporary tidal fluctuations, the force of gravity acts everywhere perpendicular to the geoid, meaning that plumb lines point perpendicular and bubble levels are
The forces at play in the case of a planet with an equatorial bulge due to rotation. Red arrow: gravity Green arrow: the normal force Blue arrow: the resultant force The resultant force provides required centripetal force. Without this centripetal force frictionless objects would slide towards the equator.