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Suppose I am sitting in an office chair in a room. Now someone just starts to rotate the chair. The chair is now rotating quite fast. I think my arms will be pulled outwards.

Now from my point of view I am sitting still but the room and chair base is being rotated the same axis. Why do I feel my arms getting pulled still?

ty.
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  • Hi, welcome to Physics SE! Please consider writing descriptive question titles with appropriate punctuation, grammar, and formatting. See this meta post: How do we write good question titles?. I've edited it here. –  Sep 22 '18 at 10:53
  • Newton's laws don't apply in an accelerating (incl rotating) reference frame. You don't need a force to make those arms swing outwards. If you do want Newton's laws to work, then you must invent fictitious forces. Such as the fictitious "centrifugal force". – Steeven Sep 22 '18 at 11:49

1 Answers1

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In the floor frame of reference your arms want to travel in straight lines.
To prevent you arms from doing so and to make them move in a circular trajectory, the rest of your body exerts an inward force on the arms (centripetal force).

Why do I feel my arms getting pulled still?

In turn your arms exert an outward force on your body (Newton’s third law) which is the force that you feel.

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In the rotating frame if you wish Newton’s law to apply, centrifugal (outward) forces are introduced which are exerted on you and your arms and then you and your arms are in static equilibrium.

Farcher
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