What is the directions of the force that acts on clothes in the spin cycles of a washing machine?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Towards center 
centripetal force

ujjwal · Answer

both towards and away from centre.. centripetal and centrifugal force... centrifugal force is provided by washing machine and centrifugal force arises due to circular motion of cloth..

kainui · Answer

Centrifugal force doesn't exist. It's fictitious in that there is nothing pulling the clothes away from the center. They are being uniformly accelerated by having their direction changed by the walls of the washing machine. This causes a change in the velocity vector, not the speed. It all starts with the friction force of the walls pull the clothes along a parallel path tangent to the washer like in this picture: |dw:1333311154667:dw| And this parallel path doesn't last very long since it's path is inside a circle, so it hits the washer and continues getting forced against the edge as it turns.