Is Water Really ‘Thrown Out’ During a Washing Machine Spin Cycle?

When a washing machine enters its spin cycle, the inner drum rotates rapidly and wet clothes press against the wall. Everyday speech says that centrifugal force throws the water out. That description can be useful, but only after the frame of reference is made clear.

Viewed from outside the machine, an object moving in a circle requires continuous acceleration towards the centre. The drum wall exerts contact forces on the clothes, repeatedly changing their direction. Water in the fabric is also acted on by the material, but when it reaches a hole in the drum, the wall can no longer provide enough inward constraint. The water then continues roughly along its instantaneous tangential path, passes through the hole into the outer tub, and is carried away by the drain. It is not pushed radially outwards by a separate physical force.

In a frame rotating with the drum, the clothes appear stationary. The same event can then be described by adding an outward centrifugal inertial force. NASA teaching material makes the distinction explicit: centripetal force is used in a non-rotating frame, while centrifugal force can be introduced in the rotating frame. They are two descriptions of the same motion and should not be counted twice in one force analysis.

At greater speed, the inward acceleration required for motion at the same radius is larger, so more water overcomes its adhesion and capillary retention in the fabric. Spinning still cannot make clothes completely dry, because some water remains held within fibres and fine pores.

https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/yba/CygX1_mass/gravity/circular_motion.html
https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Lframes2.htm