Log out Go to App
Go to App

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 2: Problem 31

Imagine that you are flying along in a jetliner. a. Define your frame of reference. b. What relative motions take place within your frame of reference?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Frame of reference: inside the jetliner. Relative motions: passengers, flight attendants, and objects moving inside the cabin.

Step by step solution

01

- Define a Frame of Reference

A frame of reference is a point of view taken usually from a reference point. In this case, consider the frame of reference to be the inside of the jetliner. This means you are observing the motions relative to the jetliner interior.
02

- Identify the Relative Motions

Within this frame of reference, relative motions include passengers walking down the aisle, flight attendants moving carts, and any objects in the cabin that might be in motion, such as a rolling ball or breeze moving through the cabin.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

relative motion
The idea of relative motion is crucial in physics. It simply describes how the position of one object changes concerning another object. For instance, imagine you are in a jetliner flying at a constant speed.
Within the jetliner, if you walk towards the front or back of the plane, your movement is measured relative to the plane's interior.
However, for an observer on the ground, your speed would be a combination of your walking speed and the jetliner's speed.
  • Example: If the plane flies at 500 mph and you walk towards the front at 3 mph, for someone on the ground, it looks like you're moving at 503 mph.
Understanding relative motion helps clarify how different observers can perceive movements differently, depending on their frame of reference.
jetliner example
Consider you're flying aboard a jetliner. Let's use this scenario to explain some concepts. Your frame of reference is the inside of the jetliner, meaning you observe everything relative to it.
  • Passengers walking: If a passenger walks towards the front of the plane, you see their movement relative to the jetliner's aisle.
  • Flight attendants and carts: When a flight attendant pushes a cart, its motion is also relative to the jetliner's interior.
  • Other activities: Any other movement inside the cabin, like objects rolling or drinks being served, all happen in this frame.
This setting helps illustrate how relative motion behaves in a confined yet mobile environment.
observational point of view
Your observational point of view, or frame of reference, significantly affects how you perceive motion. In the jetliner example, you are inside the jet, which becomes your frame of reference.
From this viewpoint, everything you observe is in comparison to the jetliner's interior.
  • Inside the plane: The motion is relatively simple. Passengers, attendants, and objects all move within the frame of reference of the jet's interior.
  • From the ground: Someone on the ground has a different frame of reference. They see the plane moving fast, and any additional motion in the plane changes the relative speed.
This difference in observational points of view shows why context and perspective are vital when discussing relative motion.

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

If you were standing at Earth's North Pole, where would you see the north celestial pole relative to your zenith?

Go to the "Earth and Moon Viewer" website (http://four milab.ch/earthview). Under "Viewing the Earth," click on "latitude, longitude and altitude" and enter your approximate latitude and longitude, and 40,000 for altitude; then select "View Earth." Are you in daytime or nighttime? Now play with the locations; keep the same latitude but change to the opposite hemisphere (Northern or Southern). Is it still night or day? Go back to your latitude, and this time enter \(180^{\circ}\) minus your longitude, and change from west to east, or from east to west, so that you are looking at the opposite side of Earth. Is it night or day there? What do you see at the North Pole (latitude \(90^{\circ}\) north) and the South Pole (latitude \(\left.90^{\circ} \text { south }\right) ?\) At the bottom of your screen you can play with the time. Move back 12 hours. What do you observe at your location and at the poles?

If you look due East, you will see the point at which a. the Sun rises. b. the celestial equator intersects the horizon. c. all the stars rise. d. the Sun sets.

Go to the U.S. Naval Observatory website (USNO "Data Services," at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data). Look up the times for sunrise and sunset for your location for the current week. (You can change the dates one at a time, or bring up a table for the entire month.) How are the times changing from one day to the next? Are the days getting longer or shorter? Bring up the "Duration of Days/Darkness Table for One Year" page for your location. When do the shortest and the longest days occur? Look up a location in the opposite hemisphere (Northern or Southern). When are the days shortest and longest?

Day and night are caused by a. the tilt of Earth on its axis. b. the rotation of Earth on its axis. c. the revolution of Earth about the Sun. d. the revolution of the Sun about Earth.
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

Work Energy and Power

Read Explanation

Geometrical and Physical Optics

Read Explanation

Astrophysics

Read Explanation

Electrostatics

Read Explanation

Turning Points in Physics

Read Explanation

Energy Physics

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free