Lecture 8:
Inertial Reference Frame
Learning Objectives
• Describe the relationship between two reference frames’ observations.
• Calculate velocities and accelerations measured by two reference frames.
• Distinguish inertial reference frames and non-inertial reference frames.
Relative Motion
Consider two frames A and B that move at constant velocity relative
to each other. If they observe a particle P, two frames’ measurements
are related:
xPA = xPB + xBA (position relationship)
vPA = vPB + vBA (velocity relationship)
aPA = aPB (acceleration relationship)
• Index convention:
XAB means the quantity X of object A measured by observer B.
Example: vBA is the velocity of object B measured by observer A.
Reference frame: any observer who can record time and the
particle’s position
Problem: A Cheetah’s Run
A cameraman on a pickup truck is traveling westward at 20 km/h while he records a cheetah
that is moving westward 30 km/h faster than the truck. Suddenly, the cheetah stops, turns, and
then runs at 45 km/h eastward, as measured by a suddenly nervous crew member who stands
alongside the cheetah’s path. The change in the cheetah’s velocity takes 2.0 s.
(a) What are the magnitude and direction of cheetah’s velocity after turning according to the
cameraman?
(b) What are the magnitude and direction of the cheetah’s acceleration according to the
cameraman?
(c) What are the magnitude and direction of cheetah’s velocity before turning according to the
nervous crew member?
(d) What are the magnitude and direction of the cheetah’s acceleration according to the nervous
crew member?
Problem: What is the other force?
A customer sits in an amusement park ride in which the compartment is to be pulled downward
in the negative direction of a y axis with an acceleration magnitude of 1.24g, with
g = 9.80 m/s2. A 0.567 g coin rests on the customer’s knee.
(a) Once the motion begins, what is the net force (actual force) on the coin? In unit-vector
notation, what is the coin’s acceleration relative to the ground?
(b) How long does the coin take to reach the compartment ceiling, 2.20 m above the knee?
(c) Once the motion begins and in unit-vector notation, what is the coin’s acceleration relative to
the customer?
(d) In unit-vector notation, what is the apparent force according to the customer’s measure of the
coin’s acceleration? What is the difference between the apparent force and the actual force on
the coin?
Inertial Reference Frame
In an inertial reference frame, the net force (actual forces) applied to an object is equal to the
product of its mass and acceleration.
⃗ = F⃗
F net actual = m a ⃗
• A reference frame that moves at constant velocity relative to an inertial reference frame is also
an inertial reference frame.
Non-inertial reference frame
If a reference frame has nonzero acceleration relative to an inertial reference frame, the frame is
a non-inertial reference frame.
• Newton’s first and second laws are not obeyed in a non-inertial reference frame unless a
fictitious force is introduced.
⃗
F apparent ⃗
= F actual ⃗
+ F fictitious
Newton’s First Law Revisited
In an inertial reference frame, an object is in uniform motion if the net force on it is zero.
Implications
• Inertial reference frames exist.
• All inertial reference frames are equally good reference frames.