The Force That Makes You Flee From Bugs

(I am taking physics and biochemistry this semester. The professor is explaining to the class how centrifugal force really doesn’t exist.)

Physics Professor: “‘Centrifugal’ means ‘fleeing the center’. If this really existed, then if you tie a weight on a string, whirl it around in a circle and let go, the weight would make a sharp right turn and fly off radially from the circle. Instead, what it does is continue in a straight line, tangentially to the circle. This is called ‘centriPETal force,’ meaning ‘attracted to the center.'”

Me: “Yeah, but what about that machine upstairs in the bio-chem lab that I use to concentrate my samples? Everyone calls it a centrifuge, right? What am I supposed to call it instead, a centripete?”

Physics Professor: *without blinking an eye* “Only if it has a hundred legs.”