Hehe, total hi-jack but there's an interesting conversation: is centrifugal force a fictitious force? Arguments abound and I was taught in my physics class that it was Centripetal force that folks should be referring to. In this case I guess it would be the centripetal force of the earth's gravity keeping the water on the planet while it spins instead of allowing it to just fly straight out into space? (actually there is probably the additional force of the earth going around the sun as well but now we are getting even more complex.) I wouldn't be surprised if I'm saying it all wrong either. After all, I'm older, not a physicist, and it's been years since I've tried to explain anything along these lines. I do know that if you go into an older Physics book you won't find centrifugal force in there. I think the newer ones have it so maybe the definition has changed? I dunno.

Anyway, this should probably be in another thread but I know we have at least one real physicist around here. Personally, I gave up arguing over this a long time ago but it always does make me smile when I see the word.

On a side note: I'm not busting bartmoss' chops for using it because it's often used to explain what seems to happen. I just get a kick out of it I guess. English is jacked up in a lot of ways due to it's being a living language and it does change over time. Eventually words become real if enough people use them, even if they started out being used incorrectly. (Ie, "Irregardless" which should just be "regardless" but whatever )