Can you defy gravity at home? Find out with this awesome spinning tray science demonstration!
Centripetal and centrifugal force are often confused with each other. Centripetal force was described by Isaac Newton as "a force by which bodies are drawn or impelled, or in any way tend, towards a point as to a centre". In Newtonian mechanics, gravity provides the centripetal force causing astronomical orbits.
Imagine an object moving in a straight line away from a fixed point. If you connected the two with a string, the object would begin to circle the fixed point. Centripetal force is directed along the radius of the circle (the string) and at right angles to the motion (toward the fixed point).
It can be confusing, but think of it this way: as we spin the tray, the force TOWARD your hand along the string is centripetal force. That force is what keeps the cup in the tray and the water in the cup.
Centrifugal force is an apparent force that describes how you would feel if you were standing on the tray (or hanging off the side of a merry-go-round). It is actually the same force as centripetal force, but experienced in the opposite direction.
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