Charles Craft wrote:
> Why isn't there a simple way to convert centrifugal or centripetal
> force to electricity?

Lots of people are working on this.  Look for "perpetual motion machine",
"free lunch", or "getting something for nothing" on the web.

Short answer: You are confusing force and power.  You can't extract energy
repetitively (power) from a static force.

Long answer: Go back and read your highschool physics text, particularly the
section about Newton's laws, energy, and power.

> If I can stand in the spinning barrel at the fair, the floor drops down
> and I'm plastered to the wall, then
> why can't the same force be turned into electricity in some
> straightforward process?

For the same reason that you can't use the existing force of gravity for
that either.  After all, if I lie down on the floor, I'm "plastered" to the
floor by gravity.  Other than the magnitude and direction of the force, this
is exactly the same as the amusement part ride.  See long answer.


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