Flight Safety, you're wrong. Very wrong.
You call the ball's momentum angular momentum but you use a formula for linear momentum.
You claim the ball is not accelerating even though it's velocity is changing. The speed may be constant, but the velocity is a vector, it changes in direction. Any change in velocity is brought about by an acceleration.
"The stiffness of the 2x4 represents the momentum of an object...". Not even close.
"Hmmm…the mass is still the same, the velocity is still the same, so therefore the momentum is still the same." The velocity and linear momentum are constantly changing. They can't be the same. The angular velocity has changed. You haven't once calculated the angular momentum. What exactly are you saying here?
The stick bends because the ball wants to travel in a straight line, but is restricted by the length of the rope and the bend in the stick. When the rope is tight enough then the stick will bend and the rope will exert a force on the ball that is the required centripetal force to get the ball to travel in a circle. Look at that, everything explained without using the word centrifugal.
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Everyone, don't get bent out of shape on this real and apparent terminology. A real force is created with effort. An apparent force is a by product of motion when you're in an accelerating or rotating reference frame.
[ 23 December 2001: Message edited by: heedm ]</p>