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Is energy always conserved in a co-rotating/accelerating frame?
Energy conservation in a co-rotating or accelerating frame is contingent upon the specifics of the frame's rotation and acceleration. To determine energy conservation, one must calculate the Lagrangian of the system using generalized coordinates relevant to the non-inertial frame. If the Lagrangian is not explicitly time-dependent, the Hamiltonian is conserved, allowing it to be interpreted as the system's energy. For uniformly rotating frames, a specific form of energy conservation applies, which can be expressed mathematically as the total time derivative of the kinetic energy minus a term involving the moment of inertia and angular velocity.
PREREQUISITESPhysicists, mechanical engineers, and students studying dynamics in non-inertial reference frames will benefit from this discussion, particularly those interested in the implications of energy conservation in rotating systems.