Santa Claus Facts....

[badass]

10% correct.

The spinning conker is accellerating, since it's velocity is changing in direction, not necessarily magnitude, and so the forces on it are unbalanced. The centripetal force is both the force on the conker and on your finger. You excert the force on the string, it exerts the same force on the conker as it's inelastic.

The 'centrifugal force' is simply an effect of a change in inertia. Imagine, for example, you are stood on a train which brakes to a halt. You feel a 'force' pulling you forward, but in reality the only force is the friction of the wheels against the track stopping the train (and your feet against the floor). The force is required to cause an acceleration or deceleration. Your tendancy to move forward is an effect of inertia. There is no force pushing you.
t's much the same when the train turns a corner. You fell the 'force' pushing you sideways, but the only real force is the wheels on the track causing the acceleration. What you feel is your inertia.

Best correct the wikipedia article that says I'm 100% right then
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal

[chicken]

Having told my friend John about these facts he then went on to calculate the length of around 200,000 reindeer and realised at over 220 miles, that would stretch all the way from our house (near Tunbridge Wells) in Kent, past Sheffield and on to Barnesly.

I would not like to be near that many reindeer whilst they "vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second!"

[YorkieBen]

No chimney...

doesn't matter, Santa shrinks through the keyhole

[Zyte]

I'm having to side with the people saying centrifugal force doesnt exist, purely because my A level physics teacher said "centrifugal force doesnt exist".

[Centreone]

Maybe Mr Lucas has the answer - Santa has been cloned 91.8 million times (with a couple of million extra to cover shopping centre appearances etc) so only needs one santa per houshold?

Unfortunately would also need 91.8 million sleighs and 6*91.8 million flying reindeer - which might just show up on radar.

[TeePee]

Best correct the wikipedia article that says I'm 100% right then
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal

The article is accurate. I don't see it supporting your arguement.

[badass]

The article is accurate. I don't see it supporting your arguement.

Can you please show me how the article shows me to be 90% wrong, or only 10% right then?

Ahem, then why does the word exist.
Newtons 3rd law - every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Centripetal force if the force on the object orbiting that makes it orbit rather than carry on in a straight line.
Centrifigal force is the reaction force on the object thats "pulling" it in.
e.g. I spin a conker on my finger with a bit fo string. Centripetal force=force of string on conker. Centrifugal force=force on string.
I think what you mean is there is no such thing as centrifugal acceleration

A real or "reactive" centrifugal force occurs in reaction to a centripetal acceleration acting on a mass. This centrifugal force is equal in magnitude to the centripetal force, directed away from the center of rotation, and is exerted by the rotating object upon the object which imposes the centripetal acceleration. Although this sense was used by Isaac Newton,[1] it is only occasionally used in modern discussions.

I'd say that bit says exactily the same as what I have said.

[TeePee]

The 'centrifugal force' defined by wikipedia would be a force exerted by the string on your finger, and not on the string as you stated. In reality it is actually a centripetal force.

[badass]

The 'centrifugal force' defined by wikipedia would be a force exerted by the string on your finger, and not on the string as you stated. In reality it is actually a centripetal force.

Really?

and is exerted by the rotating object upon the object which imposes the centripetal acceleration.

That says you are wrong and agrees with what I have been saying all along.
So, is it Wikipedia that is wrong or you?

[Oobie-]

Dont let the kids read this, DONTTTTTTT!

I loled my socks off, nice

[chicken]

this is an interesting thread about Santa Clause...

[snedger]

hopefully the outcome of this debate will be that he doesn't exist (I know he does really) and then I can show the kids the results and save a few quid!

[bsodmike]

I'm having to side with the people saying centrifugal force doesnt exist, purely because my A level physics teacher said "centrifugal force doesnt exist".

This is best described here,

"Because rotating frames are not vital for understanding mechanics, science teachers often de-emphasize the centrifugal forces that appear to exist in a rotating reference frame. However, in their zeal to stamp out the misunderstanding of the term in this one case, they may try to expunge it from the language entirely."

..another interesting bit,

"Centripetal force should not be confused with centrifugal force. The centrifugal force is a fictitious force that arises from being in a rotating reference frame. To eliminate all such fictitious forces, one needs to be in a non-accelerating reference frame, i.e., in an inertial reference frame. Only then can one safely use Newton's laws of motion, such as F = ma."

Checkout the differences between the reference frames.

Ref: Wikipedia

[MadduckUK]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006570270,00.html

[TeePee]

It doesn't agree. You say the force acts on the string, I say the force described acts on the object imposing the centripetal acceleration, your finger.

The reality is that the definition of centripetal forces and centrifugal forces are all a question of reference frame.

[bsodmike]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006570270,00.html

I think I was around 12 when I was told that my Parents were 'Santa'...boy did I wish I knew earlier...I felt so silly. It's funny how people react in that article, I mean, "How DARE you tell my child the truth, I'll have your job for that..."

Yes, she should could been more tactful, and tbh if parents want to lie to their children, it's their look out. She shouldn't have gone and poked her nose in - it cost her dearly.

Moral of the story, you can lie to your children - they'll love you and believe you and best of all, god won't judge you cause it seems to be the done thing :s

Is it me or taking advantage of the innocence of children a bad thing? Fine, I loved the whole 'magic' of Christmas and the Santa thing...but I don't think Christmas got any 'worse' knowing that my Parents were doing his job. Ah well, at least this thread has proved that Santa has never heard of Physics...in our dimension at least!