Moving Reference Frames

Abstract

In this chapter we will treat reference systems which move relative to each other as well as the transformation of the laws of motion of one of these systems into the other. In the context of systems in motion relative to each other we have to distinguish between two inertial systems, which are defined in the first Newtonian axiom and which move with constant relative velocity, and those systems, which are accelerated relative to an inertial system and in which also so-called inertial forces appear in addition to the inner and/or external forces.

Let us consider two coordinate systems S and S′. The system S is assumed to be an inertial system; for simplicity one could imagine this system as the system of the observer (i.e., as that of the reader and as at rest). The system S′moves relative to the system S. This motion of the system S′ is a superposition of a translation of the origin and of a rotation with respect to the origin.