Centrifugal Force Calculator

What Is Centrifugal Force?

Centrifugal force is the apparent outward force on a body moving in a circular path, observed in a rotating reference frame. It is not a real force in an inertial frame — centripetal force points inward to maintain circular motion. In practice, engineers use the centrifugal formulation for rotating machinery and vehicle cornering.

Centrifugal Force Formula

\(m\) is mass in kg, \(\omega\) is angular velocity in rad/s, and \(r\) is radius in meters. From RPM: \(\omega = 2\pi \cdot \text{RPM} / 60\).

Example: 10 kg at 100 RPM with 2 m radius gives \(\omega = 10.47\) rad/s and \(F = 10 \times 10.47^2 \times 2 \approx 2{,}193\) N.

Related Quantities

Centrifugal acceleration is \(a = F/m = \omega^2 r\). Tangential speed is \(v = \omega r\). The equivalent formula \(F = mv^2/r\) applies when tangential speed is known directly.