In physics , centrifugal force ( from Latin centrum `` center '' and fugere `` to flee '' ) is a fictitious force that appears when describing physics in a rotating reference frame ; it acts on anything with mass considered in such a frame . Centrifugal force is fictitious because although it may feel to a person like a certain force is being exerted on them , someone outside the scene will see something different . The Lagrangian centrifugal force is derived without explicit use of a rotating frame of reference , but in the case of motion in a central potential the result is the same as the fictitious centrifugal force derived in a co-rotating frame .