Fictitious force

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A fictitious force, also known as an inertial force or pseudo-force, is a force that appears to act on an object when its motion is described or experienced from a non-inertial frame of reference. Unlike real forces, which result from physical interactions between objects, fictitious forces occur due to the acceleration of the observer’s frame of reference rather than any actual force acting on a body. These forces are necessary for describing motion correctly within an accelerating frame, ensuring that Newton's second law of motion remains applicable.^[1][2]

Common examples of fictitious forces include the centrifugal force, which appears to push objects outward in a rotating system; the Coriolis force, which affects moving objects in a rotating frame such as the Earth; and the Euler force, which arises when a rotating system changes its angular velocity. While these forces are not real in the sense of being caused by physical interactions, they are essential for accurately analyzing motion within accelerating reference frames, particularly in disciplines such as classical mechanics, meteorology, and astrophysics.

Fictitious forces play a crucial role in understanding everyday phenomena, such as weather patterns influenced by the Coriolis effect and the perceived weightlessness experienced by astronauts in free-fall orbits. They are also fundamental in engineering applications, including navigation systems and rotating machinery.

According to General relativity theory we perceive gravitational force when space is bending near heavy objects, so even this might be called a fictitious force.