Centrifugal force

Imagine you are on a ride at an amusement park that spins you around really fast. When you first start spinning, you feel your body being pushed to the side of the ride (think of when you are in a car that turns really fast and you slide to the side of your seat). This is because of something called centrifugal force.

Centrifugal force happens when something is moving in a circle (like when you spin around on a ride). Because you are moving in a circle, your body wants to fly off in a straight line (like when you are driving in a car and suddenly make a sharp turn, your body wants to keep moving forward in a straight line). But, because you are on the ride and the ride is holding you in place, you can't fly off. But you can still feel the force pushing you to the side.

It's kind of like when you swing a bucket of water around really fast. The water wants to keep going in a straight line, but the bucket is holding it in place, so the water splashes out to the side.

So, centifugal force is when something is moving in a circle and feels like it's being pushed to the side, even though it really wants to keep going in a straight line. It's not actually a real force like gravity or magnetism, but is the result of something moving in a circle.