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Chapter 9 - FORCES IN ACCELERATING REFERENCE FRAMES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2013

Steven C. Frautschi ,
Richard P. Olenick ,
Tom M. Apostol  and
David L. Goodstein
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Summary

From the beginning it appeared to me intuitively clear that, judged from the standpoint of such an observer [moving relative to the earth], everything would have to happen according to the same laws as for an observer who, relative to the earth, was at rest.

Albert Einstein, Autobiographical Notes (1949)

INERTIAL AND NONINERTIAL REFERENCE FRAMES

We have already introduced Galileo's ideas on relative motion in Chapter 4. We defined inertial frames – frames in which the law of inertia holds – and remarked that an observer in any inertial frame deduces the same laws of motion, and has no way of determining whether he is at rest or moving in an absolute sense. Galileo was able to provide striking examples of these ideas, such as a stone dropped from the mast of a moving boat, and to deduce a vitally important application – the earth need not be considered the stationary hub around which the heavens revolve.

However, Galileo did not have a clear-cut dynamical framework within which to derive his ideas. And exactly how to treat motion in a rotating frame, or indeed in any noninertial frame – one that is accelerated relative to an inertial frame – remained obscure.

It was only after Newton's second law was discovered that Galileo's ideas could be derived in a clear-cut way.

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The Mechanical Universe
Mechanics and Heat, Advanced Edition
 , pp. 203 - 218
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1986

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