Describe how you experience centrifugal force on a fairground ride?

Answer 1

According to Sir Isaac newton, a body in motion tends to remain in motion. We call that momentum. It is what lets you slide a long way on the ice if you get a good run at it. When you travel in a circle, like on a carnival ride, you are not going in a straight line but the forces of momentum have a tangential force, that is a straight ahead of you at each instant of time. You can think of throwing a ball, your arm is that carnival ride and you are the ball, as you wind-up to throw the ball, your arm moves in a circle and when you let go of the ball, the ball goes straight. The path that the ball travels is the line of momentum at the instant you let go of the ball. You on a carnival ride are like the ball, if the ride let go of you you would fly in a straight line away from the ride, but the ride does not let go of you, the seat pulls you back away from the line momentum want you to fly and what you feel is the force the ride is exerting to pull you back into the circular path it is traveling. The faster the ride, the more force it must use to pull you back, so you press harder and harder on the outside of the seat on the ride. That is how you feel centrifugal force.