146

7. Motion in a Non-inertial Reference Frame

(Most of the material presented in this chapter is taken from Thornton and Marion, Chap.
10 and Fowles Chapter 5.)
We have so far dealt only with problems situated in inertial reference frames, or if not,
problems that could be solved with enough accuracy by ignoring the non-inertial nature
of the coordinate systems. There are, however, many problems for which it is necessary,
or beneficial, to treat the motion of the system at hand in a non-inertial reference frame.
One example is our ordinary frame of motion on the surface of the Earth. We can usually
safely ignore the fact that Earth is rotating, but not in all situations. In fact, the key
demonstration that the Earth is in fact rotating and not stationary depends on the detection
of Coriolis and other forces which indicate we are in a rotating reference frame. The first
dynamic demonstration of the Earths rotation was in 1851 by French physicist Leon
Foucault with his famous Foucaults pendulum. The action of the pseudo-forces that
arise from the Earth being in a rotating frame are important in such fields as climate (the
rotation of hurricanes arises from the Coriolis force) and military science (artillery shells
are measurably affected by the Earths rotation) among others.
In this chapter, we will develop the mathematical apparatus that will allow us to deal with
such problems, and prepare the way for the study of the motion of rigid bodies that we
will tackle in the next chapter.
7.1 Rotating Coordinate Systems
Lets consider two coordinate systems: one that is inertial and for which the axes are
fixed, and another whose axes are rotating with respect to the inertial system. We recall
from chapter 1 that defining a fixed inertial coordinate system is no easy task, but we will
ignore these deeper difficulties at this point. We represent the coordinates of the fixed
system by
i
x and the coordinates of the rotating system by
i
x . If we choose some point in
space P (see Figure 7-1) we have

, = + r R r (7.1)

where R locates the origin of the rotating system in the fixed system. We assume that R
is a constant, the coordinate system is rotating and not moving linearly (for the time
being).
From equation (7.1) we can easily write

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '
x y z x y z x y z
x y z X Y Z x y z + + = + + e e e e e e e e e (7.2)


147


Figure 7-1 The
i
x s are coordinates in the fixed system, and
i
x are coordinates in the
rotating system. The vector R locates the origin of the rotating system in the fixed
system.

where the right-hand side is expressed relative to unit vectors arranged with respect to the
rotating coordinate system (which is changing with time), and the left-hand side with
respect to the fixed system. Taking the time derivative

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '
'
y
x z
x y z x y z x y z
y
x z
d
d d
x y z X Y Z x x y y z z
dt dt dt
d
d d
x y z
dt dt dt
+ + = + + + + +
= + + +
e
e e
e e e e e e e e e
e
e e
r r



(7.3)


where we have defined the apparent velocity as measured in the rotating frame to be
x y z
x y z = + + r e e e and taken ' 0 = R

. The terms
y
x z
d
d d
x y z
dt dt dt
+ +
e
e e
come from the
fact that the Cartesian basis vectors of the rotating frame are changing with time; their
time derivatives arent zero like the Cartesian basis vectors in the fixed frame are.

So what are these extra three terms? We can argue intuitively from a consideration of the
change of the basis vectors under a small instantaneous rotation. We define the
instantaneous angular velocity vector of the rotating system to be = n where is the
instantaneous rate of rotation and n is a vector along the instantaneous axis of rotation so
that the right-hand rule is obeyed (We keep saying instantaneous here to emphasize that
the magnitude and direction of the axis of rotation may well be changing with time).
148

Figure 7-2 The change in the unit vector
x
e produced by a small rotation .

From an examination of Figure 7-2, we can see that a particular basis vector
x
e change by
an amount sin
x
e during this small rotation. Using the definition of a derivative
we can easily see that the magnitude of the change is


0
lim sin sin
x x
t
d d
dt t dt

= = =

e e
(7.4)


Now the direction of
x
e is perpendicular to both and to
x
e . From magnitude of the
change and direction of the result, it turns out that we are dealing with a cross-product
and can write down that


x
x
d
dt
=
e
e (7.5)

We can get similar results for and
y
z
d
d
dt dt
e
e
. Plugging these back into (7.3) yields

149

'
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
y
x z
x y z
x y z
d
d d
x y z
dt dt dt
x y z
x y z
= + + +
= + + +
= + + +
= +
e
e e
r r
r e e e
r e e e
r r

(7.6)

or to spell things out completely


fixed rotating
.
d d
dt dt
| | | |
= +
| |
\ \
r r
r (7.7)

7.1.1 Generalization to arbitrary vectors
Although we used the position vector r for the derivation of equation (7.7), this
expression applies equally well to an arbitrary vector Q, that is


fixed rotating
d d
dt dt
| | | |
= +
| |
\ \
Q Q
Q (7.8)

We can use this to verify that the angular acceleration is the same in both systems of
reference


fixed rotating
rotating
.
d d
dt dt
d
dt
| | | |
= +
| |
\ \
| |
=
|
\



(7.9)

We can also use equation (7.8) to find the velocity of point P (in Figure 7-1) as
measured in the fixed system


fixed fixed fixed
fixed rotating
.
d d d
dt dt dt
d d
dt dt

| | | | | |
= +
| | |
\ \ \
| | | |
= + +
| |
\ \
r R r
R r
r
(7.10)

If we define the following quantities

150

fixed
fixed
rotating
,
f f
f
r r
d
dt
d
dt
d
dt

| |

|
\
| |

|
\
| |

|
\
r
v r
R
V R
r
v r

(7.11)

we can rewrite equation (7.10) as


f r
= + + v V v r (7.12)

where


the velocity relative to the fixed axes
the linear velocity of the moving origin
the velocity relative to the rotating axes
the angular velocity of the rotating axes
= the position vector
f
r
=
=
=
=
v
V
v
r

in the rotating frame
the velocity due to the rotation of the moving axes. = r
(7.13)

7.2 The Centrifugal and Coriolis Forces
We know that Newtons Second Law (i.e., m = F a ) is valid only in an inertial frame of
reference. In other words, the simple form m = F a for the equation of motion applies
when the acceleration is that which is measured in the fixed referenced system, i.e.,
f
a a . Then, we can write


fixed
,
f
f
d
m m
dt
| |
= =
|
\
v
F a (7.14)

where the differentiation is carried out in the fixed system. Differentiating equation (7.12)
we get


fixed fixed fixed
fixed
.
f
r
d
d d d
dt dt dt dt
| |
| | | | | |
= + + +
| | | |
\ \ \
\
v
v V r
r (7.15)

where we have used the chain rule for cross-products
( )
fixed
fixed
d d
dt dt
| |
= +
|
\
r
r r (7.16)
151
and the fact that is the same regardless of the frame of reference.

Using equation (7.8) we can transform this equation as follows


( )
rotating rotating
2 ,
r
f f r
f r r
d d
dt dt
( (
| | | |
= + + + + +
( (
| |
\ \ ( (

= + + + +
v r
a R v r r
R a r v r

(7.17)

where ( )
fixed
f
d dt = R V

. Correspondingly, the force on the particle as measured in the

inertial frame becomes

( ) 2 .
f r r
m m m m m = + + + + F R a r r v

(7.18)

Wait, how can the fact that were trying to express the effective forces seen by an
observer in the rotating frame result in a force in the inertial frame? It certainly looks like
it has because there are all these extra terms on the right-hand side. However, these terms
will all go to zero if the particle is not being accelerated in the inertial frame. Though this
is far from obvious from (7.18), a consideration of (7.12) will probably make this clearer.

Alternatively, the effective force on the particle as seen by an observer co-moving with
the rotating system is


( )
eff
2 .
r
f r
m
m m m m

=
F a
F R r r v

(7.19)

The first term F is the total force acting on the particle as measured in the inertial frame.
The second (
f
m R

) and third ( m r ) are due to the translational and angular

accelerations, respectively, of the moving non-inertial system. The fourth term
( ( ) m r ) is the so-called centrifugal force (directed away from the centre of
rotation), and finally, the last term ( 2
r
m v ) is the Coriolis force. It is important to
note that the Coriolis force arises because of the motion of the particle in the rotating
system, i.e., it disappears if 0
r
v = .
Equation (7.19) is a mathematical representation of what is meant by the statement that
Newtons Second Law does not apply in a non-inertial reference frame. It is not that the
physics dealt with Newtonian mechanics cannot be analyzed in a non-inertial frame, but
that the form of the equations of motion is different. More precisely, if we set and
f
R

in equation (7.19) to zero to simplify things, we have in the rotating frame a more
complicated equation of motion


eff
(non-inertial terms),
r
m = + F a (7.20)

152
where the non-inertial terms are the centrifugal and Coriolis forces, than in an inertial
frame where the equation of motion is simply

.
f
m = F a (7.21)
Example:
A wheel of radius b rolls along the ground with a constant forward speed V0. Find the
acceleration, relative to the ground, of any point on the rim.


Figure 7-3 Rotating coordinates fixed to a rolling wheel.

Let us choose a coordinate system fixed to the rotating wheel, and let the moving origin
be at the centre with the x-axis passing through the point in question. Then we have


0
0 0 0 =0 =
x f r r z z
V
b
b
= = = = = r e R a v e e

So the only term in (7.17) that is not zero is the centrifugal one


( )
0 0
2
0
2
0
f
z z x
z y
x
V V
b
b b
V
b
V
b
=
| | | |
=
| |
\ \
=
=
a r
e e e
e e
e



So the acceleration is towards the centre of the wheel, with the same value as we would
have determined from elementary physics.
153

Example:

A bicycle travels with constant speed V
0
around a track of radius . What is the
acceleration of the highest point on one of its wheels (of radius b)?


Figure 7-4 Wheel rolling on a curved track. The
z
e axis remains vertical as the wheel
turns.

We choose a coordinate system with origin at the centre of the wheel and with the x-axis
horizontal pointing toward the centre of the track. Rather than have the moving
coordinates rotate with the wheel, we choose a system in which the z-axis remains
vertical as shown in the figure. So our system rotates with an angular velocity related to
how fast the bike goes around the track or
0
z
V

= e .

First, we have to account for the acceleration of our moving coordinate system, that is the
first term on the right-hand side of equation (7.17). This acceleration is easily computed
from elementary physics as
2
0
V

, and a look at the figure tells us the acceleration of the

frame itself is along the
x
e direction so the acceleration of the moving origin is just
2
0
f x
V

= R e

which will have to be added to any other accelerations.

Since each point on the wheel is moving on a circle of radius b with respect to our
moving coordinate system (which recall is not rotating as the wheel spins), the
acceleration in the moving system is just what is needed to maintain circular motion, or
154
2
z
v
b
e where v is the velocity of the top of the wheel in the moving frame. A
consideration of the relative velocity of the bicycle and the top of the wheel reveals
that
0
' 2 v V = , that is, the speed of the top of the wheel in fixed frame is twice that of the
bike as a whole (at the same time, the speed of the bottom of the wheel with respect to the
ground is zero). Since the moving coordinate system is moving along with an
instantaneous velocity
0
V were left with
0 0 0
2 v V V V = = . So the acceleration in the
moving system is
2
0
r z
V
b
= a e . This is the second term in equation (7.17). Since 0 = ,
the third term is zero, and were left with the Coriolis and centrifugal terms. The Coriolis
term is

2
0 0
0
2 2 ( ) 2
r z y x
V V
V

| |
= =
|
\
v e e e (7.22)
while the centrifugal term is

0 0
( ) 0
z z z
V V
b

| | | |
= =
| |
\ \
r e e e (7.23)

So our total acceleration of the top of the wheel relative to the ground is

( )
2 2 2
0 0 0
2 2
0 0
2
2
3
f f r r
x z x
x z
V V V
b
V V
b
= + + + +
= +
=
a R a r v r
e e e
e e

(7.24)

7.3 Motion relative to the Earth
We can apply the results obtained in the previous section to motion near the surface of
the Earth. If we set the origin of the inertial (fixed) system x y z to be at the center of the
Earth, and the moving (rotating) non-inertial frame xyz on the surface of the Earth, we
can describe the motion of a moving object near its surface using equation (7.19). We
denote by
0
m = + F S g the total force acting on the object (of mass m) where S
represent any external forces (except gravity) and
0
g is the gravitational acceleration

155

0 2
.
R
GM
R

= g e (7.25)



In equation (7.25)
11 2 2
6.67 10 N m /kg G

= is the universal gravitational constant,
24
5.98 10 kg M

= is the mass of the Earth, and

6
6.38 10 m R = its radius. We assume
that the Earths radius and gravitational field are independent of latitude. The effective
force
eff
F as measured in the moving frame near the surface of the Earth becomes

( )
eff 0
2 .
f r
m m m m m = + F S g R r r v

(7.26)

The Earths angular velocity vector is given by
5
7.3 10 rad/s
z

= e (i.e., it is directed
along the -axis z ), and we assume that it is a constant. The fourth term on the right hand
side of equation (7.26) therefore equals zero. Also, from equation (7.8) we have


( )
fixed
fixed
rotating
rotating
0
,
f
f
f
f
d
dt
d
dt
d
dt
d
dt
| |
=
|
\
| |
=
|
|
\
| |
= +
|
|
\
(
| |
= + +
( `
|
\ (
)
=
V
R
R
R
R
R
R
R

(7.27)

since R (measured in the rotating frame) is a constant and the location of the origin is
constant in the rotating frame. Inserting equation (7.27) in equation (7.26) we get

( )
eff 0
2 .
r
m m m = + + (

F S g r R v (7.28)

The second and third terms on the right hand side of this equation can be combined into a
single term for the effective gravitational acceleration g that is felt near the surface of the
Earth (i.e., on the surface of the Earth we cannot discern between gravity
0
g and the
centrifugal acceleration ( ) + (

r R , we can only feel the resulting acceleration g )

( )
0
. = + (

g g r R (7.29)
156

It is to be noted that because of the presence of the centrifugal acceleration
( ) + (

r R in this equation for the effective gravity,
0
and g g will in general not
point exactly in the same direction. This effect is rather small, but measurable as
2
0
0.0035 R g = . It should also be clear from the equation (7.29) that the magnitude of
the effect is a function of latitude.
The equation for the effective force is then rewritten as


eff
2
r
m m = + F S g v (7.30)

As was pointed out earlier, the last term on the right hand side of equation (7.30) is
responsible for the Coriolis effect. This effect is the source for some well-known motions
of air masses. To see how this happens, lets consider the xyz coordinate system to be
located at some latitude where the angular velocity vector (which represents the
Earths rotation) has a component
z z
e along the vertical at the specified latitude. If a
particle is projected such that its velocity vector
r
v is located in the xy plane, then the
Coriolis force will have a component directed to the right of the particles motion (see
Figure 7-5). The size of this effect will be a function of the latitude, as the amplitude of
z
also exhibits such a dependency. So, consider a region where, for some reason, the
atmospheric pressure is lower than it is in its surrounding (see Figure 7-6). As the air
flows into this low-pressure spot from regions of higher pressure all around, the Coriolis
effect will deflect the air motion to the right (in the Northern Hemisphere), resulting into
counterclockwise, or cyclonic, motions in the atmosphere.
As the following example will show, the Coriolis effect generally only becomes
important for the motion of bodies near the surface of the Earth when large enough
distance scales are considered.

Figure 7-5 In the Northern hemisphere, a particle projected in a horizontal plane will
be directed to the right of its motion. The opposite will happen in the Southern
Hemisphere.
157

Figure 7-6 The Coriolis effect deflects the air in the Northern Hemisphere to the right
producing cyclonic motion.
Examples

1. Free-falling object. Find the horizontal deflection caused by the Coriolis effect acting
on a free-falling particle in the Earths effective gravitational field from a height ( ) h R
above its surface.
Solution.
From equation (7.30), with
eff
0 and
r
m = = S F a , we have

2 .
r r
= a g v (7.31)

We choose the -axis z attached (virtually) to the surface of the rotating Earth as directed
outward along g . We also choose the and
x y
e e bases vectors such that they are in the
southerly and easterly direction, respectively. The latitude is once again denoted by
(see Figure 7-7). With these definitions we can decompose the Earths angular velocity
vector as


( )
( )
cos
0
sin .
x
y
z

=
=
=
(7.32)

The rightmost term has the cross-product

( ) ( ) ( )
r y z x z x y x y z
z y x z y x = + + v e e e (7.33)

To fully solve the problem, we would need to deal with all the different components of
the velocity. But we can use the approximation that the Coriolis effect will produce
158
velocity components along and
x y
e e , we will neglect these since they will be
significantly smaller than the velocity along
z
e produce by gravity. Then,


0
,
x y
z gt


(7.34)

where we assume that the particle is free-falling from rest.

Figure 7-7 The coordinated system attached to the Earths surface, for finding the
horizontal deflection of a free-falling particle. The and
x y
e e bases vectors are,
respectively, in the southerly and easterly direction.
We now calculate the apparent acceleration component
c
a due to the Coriolis term in
equation (7.31)
( )
( )
2
( cos )( )
cos
c r
x y
y
y
z
gt
gt

a v
e
e
e

(7.35)

Inserting equation (7.35) in equation (7.31) we find the apparent acceleration of the
particle as seen from the Earths surface

( ) 2 cos .
r y z
gt g a e e (7.36)

159
If we assume that the initial conditions for the position of the particle are
0 0 0
0 and x y z h = = = , we have after twice integrating equation (7.36)

( ) ( )
3 2
1 1
cos .
3 2
x z
t gt h gt
| |
+
|
\
r e e (7.37)

When the particle reaches the Earths surface we will have 2 t h g , and finally for the
horizontal deviation

( )
3
1 8
cos .
3
h
d
g
(7.38)

Thus, if an object is dropped from a height of 100 m at latitude 45 north, it is deflected
approximately by only 1.55 cm (we neglected any friction brought up by the presence of
the atmosphere).

2. Foucaults pendulum. We set the origin of the non-inertial xyz coordinate system at
the equilibrium point of the pendulum and the -axis z along the local vertical. Describe
the motion of the pendulum of length l and mass m in the small angle limit, taking into
account the rotation of the Earth.

Solution. A full solution to this problem turns out to be quite complicated, so we will
make approximations as we go along to make the problem as simple as possible while
still embodying the important physics (the fact that the important details of the motion are
present in our approximate solution can be verified by comparing it with a complete
solution, but well omit that step here in the interests of time).

The equation of motion in the frame of an observer on the Earth is

2 ,
r r
m
= +
T
a g v (7.39)

where T is the tension in the pendulum which we will approximate as constant. If we
restrict ourselves to small oscillations, we can write

,
x y z
x y
T T T
l l
+ T e e e (7.40)

where we neglected second and higher order terms in and x l y l . As in the previous
example, we write

,
z
g = g e (7.41)

160
and


( )
( )
cos
0
sin .
x
y
z

=
=
=
(7.42)

Again limiting ourselves to small angular displacements, we can write for the velocity of
the pendulum


( )
( )
( ) 0.
r
x
r
y
r
z
x
y
=
=
v
v
v

(7.43)



Figure 7-8 Geometry of Foucaults pendulum. The acceleration vector is along the
-axis z , and the tension T is broken down into components along the -, -, and - x y z
axes.
Using equations (7.42) and (7.43) to evaluate the Coriolis effect in equation (7.39), we
can find the apparent acceleration of the pendulum as seen near the surface of the Earth
(i.e., in the non-inertial system) to be


( ) ( )
( )
2 sin 2 sin
2 cos .
r x x
z
T x T y
y x
m l m l
T
y g
m


( (
+ +
( (

(
+ +
(

a e e
e

(7.44)

161
If we concentrate on the motion in the xy plane, and make the following substitutions
( )
2
0
, , and sin
z
T mg T ml g l = we find from equation (7.44)


2
0
2
0
2
2 ,
z
z
x x y
y y x


+
+


(7.45)

which is a system of two coupled second order differential equations. In order to facilitate
the solution of the system, we multiply the second these equations by the unit imaginary
number i and add it to the first equation. Then, defining the following complex variable

, q x iy + (7.46)

we have from equations (7.45) that


2
0
2 0.
z
q i q q + + (7.47)

As we saw in Chapter 2 on oscillations, equation (7.47) describes the motion of a damped
oscillator (with the difference that the damping factor is, in this case, purely imaginary).
Referring to the results obtained in the aforementioned chapter, we can write the solution
to equation (7.47) to be

( )
( )
2 2
0
cos .
z
i t
z
q t Ae t

+ (7.48)

We see that if the rotation of the Earth were ignored ( 0
z
= ), we would retrieve the
usual motion of a harmonic oscillator motion with

( ) ( )
0
cos , q t A t (7.49)

and
0
is thus identified with the oscillation frequency of the pendulum. This frequency
is much greater that the angular frequency of rotation of the Earth, which performs one
complete rotation in approximately 24 hours. So, using the fact that
0 z
in equation
(7.48) we have


( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
0
0
cos
cos sin cos ,
z
i t
z z
q t Ae t
A t i t t

(7.50)

which implies, using equation (7.46), that (assuming we chose the initial condition such
that A is real)

162

( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
0
0
cos cos
sin cos .
z
z
x t A t t
y t A t t

(7.51)

It now becomes easy to see that as the pendulum is oscillating at a frequency
0
, it also
performs a precession, or rotation in the xy plane at a frequency of
z
. The position
angle made by the axis of oscillation in the xy plane will change with time as the
pendulum rotates, and it is given by


( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
1
1
tan
sin
tan
cos
sin .
z
z
z
y t
t
x t
t
t
t t

(
(

(
(

=

(7.52)