In a similar way, the centrifugal force has very real effects on objects in a rotating reference frame and is therefore real. But the centrifugal force is not fundamental. Rather it is caused by the rotation of the reference frame. The centrifugal force is not some psychological oddity humans experience.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) was an English physicist and mathematician, most famous for discovering gravity. One of the most celebrated and influential scientists of all time, Newton had an estimated IQ of 193.

The centrifugal force is a pseudo-force because if the centripetal force ceased for an object in circular motion, the centrifugal force the body is “feeling” would instantly disappear, and the object would travel tangentially to its line of motion.

A centripetal force is a net force that acts on an object to keep it moving along a circular path. It is important to understand that the centripetal force is not a fundamental force, but just a label given to the net force which causes an object to move in a circular path.

A fictitious force (also called a pseudo force, d’Alembert force, or inertial force) is a force that appears to act on a mass whose motion is described using a non-inertial frame of reference, such as an accelerating or rotating reference frame. These apparent forces are examples of fictitious forces. …

Since Earth rotates around a fixed axis, the direction of centrifugal force is always outward away from the axis. Thus it is opposite to the direction of gravity at the equator; at Earth’s poles it is zero. Centripetal force is real; centrifugal force is just an apparent force.

Centripetal forces cause centripetal accelerations. In the special case of the Earth’s circular motion around the Sun – or any satellite’s circular motion around any celestial body – the centripetal force causing the motion is the result of the gravitational attraction between them.