A Person in a Merry go round:
Centripetal force acts on the person to stay in circular motion
Whenever an object moves in a circular path we know the object is accelerating because the velocity is constantly changing direction.
All accelerations are caused by a net force acting on an object. In the case of an object moving in a circular path, the net force is a special force called the centripetal force. Centripetal in Latin means “center seeking” . So a centripetal force is a center seeking force which means that the force is always directed toward the center of the circle. Without this force, an object will simply continue moving in straight line motion.
Consider the acceleration in a Merry go round, here the acceleration is a change of direction rather than a change in speed, and a rider on the Merry go round similarly feels these mysterious forces that to an observer on the ground are not forces at all but the result of something else.
The observer on the ground sees that the person on the Merry go round is moving in a circle and that the force that pulls the rider to the center of that circle is the friction from the floor of the Merry go round; which is known as centripetal force. But the person on the Merry go round doesn't see themselves moving at all. To their mind they're sitting still on the merry go round. That is, according to their frame of reference they aren't moving. But they feel this mysterious force trying to pull them off the Merry go round; this force is pointing away from the center of the Merry go round and is the centrifugal force.
The centripetal force and centrifugal force are really the exact same force, just in opposite directions because they're experienced from different frames of reference.