Fictitious force

ID: fictitious-force

Fictitious force by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
An inertial force is an additional term used to express Newton's second law in an accelerating reference frame. For origin acceleration and axes with angular velocity , the apparent force on a particle is
Here and are measured relative to that frame. The rotation terms are the Coriolis force, Euler force and centrifugal force. Their values depend on the frame rather than on an additional physical interaction.
Fictitious forces, also known as pseudo forces, are apparent forces that are not the result of any physical interaction but instead arise due to the acceleration of the reference frame from which the motion is being observed. They are observed in non-inertial frames of reference, where the observer's frame is accelerating, rotating, or otherwise not in uniform motion. One common example of a fictitious force is the centrifugal force experienced by an object being observed in a rotating frame of reference.

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