Mechanical Energy Change in Inertial Reference Frames

• Saeed Ghanbari ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Zanjan

     University of Zanjan

     Irán

     
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 54, Nº. 6, 2016, págs. 360-363
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The mechanical energy change of a system in an inertial frame of reference equals work done by the total nonconservative force in the same frame. This relation is covariant under the Galilean transformations from inertial frame S to S′, where S′ moves with constant velocity relative to S. In the presence of nonconservative forces, such as normal and tension forces, the mechanical energy of a system can be conserved in S and not be conserved in S′. In this paper we find useful relations between the mechanical energy changes in two inertial frames of reference.