Understanding acceleration problem

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter DeepSeeded
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Acceleration
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of acceleration and its perception from different reference frames. Participants explore the nature of acceleration, the feeling of force, and the implications of relative motion in various contexts, including gravitational scenarios and theoretical frameworks.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Theoretical

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that when one object accelerates away from another, both appear to be accelerating relative to each other, but questions why only one feels the force of acceleration.
  • Another participant challenges the initial claim, stating that while velocities are relative, accelerations are not, and critiques the use of gravity as an example.
  • A different viewpoint posits that without a background, either object could appear to be accelerating, referencing Mach's principle as a debated concept in physics.
  • One participant introduces the idea that an independent observer can determine which object has undergone energy change due to acceleration, linking this to inertia and the Higgs field.
  • Another participant mentions the Doppler effect, noting that only one object would exhibit a shift in energy when observed, which contributes to their understanding of the situation.
  • A participant suggests that the perception of acceleration may depend on the chosen reference frame, implying that different frames can yield different observations.
  • One participant proposes a conceptualization of acceleration as a continuous series of infinitesimal changes in velocity across inertial frames.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of acceleration and its perception, with no consensus reached on the fundamental questions raised. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives.

Contextual Notes

Some claims rely on specific definitions of acceleration and reference frames, and there are unresolved aspects regarding the implications of Mach's principle and the role of the Higgs field in understanding inertia.

DeepSeeded
Messages
113
Reaction score
1
When one object accelerates away from another object, relativly they are both accelerating away from each other. The second object's speed is changing relative to the object truly changing it's speed. However the second object does not feel the "push" from the acceleration.

I am having trouble understanding why only one object is truly accelerating and feels the "push" or force of acceleration. It is intuitive that only you would feel the force as you accelerated away from someone else, however I don't understand why.

Another example is that the Earth is rotating around the sun, however you could say that the sun and everything else is rotating around the earth, if you kept the Earth centered. Though the sun does not feel the acceleration, the Earth is truly the object changing its velocity direction and feels the acceleration force, but what determines this..?
 
Physics news on Phys.org


DeepSeeded said:
When one object accelerates away from another object, relativly they are both accelerating away from each other.
That statement is false. Velocities are relative, accelerations (and angular velocities) are not relative.

Also, your mention of gravity is a bad example (since gravity is not a force, and what you probably thought of as gravitational acceleration is better conceptualised as the absence of acceleration to resist the curvature of spacetime).
 


If you watched one object accelerate away from another with no backround depending on what object you focused on either object would apear to be accelerating.
 


DeepSeeded : The object that undergoes the acceleration relative to an independent observer if a light source exists on both the object that is accelearting and the object that is not accelerating, will allow the two objects to determine which has undergone an energy change due to the acceleration, by the independent observer.
The reason the acceleration is felt, is due to inertia. Inertia may soon be understood, if the Higgs field boson, that mediates mass is reveled in the LHC.
 
Last edited:


DeepSeeded said:
with no backround [..] either object would apear to be accelerating.

That relates to Mach's principle (an unanswered and still debated question in theoretical physics), suffice here to say that in practice there is always background constellations.
 


That is a good point about the doppler shift. About only one changing in energy. If you pointed a doppler gun at both objects only one would return a shift. That helps thanks.
 


I think that it depends about your reference which shall has v = 0
 


How about this..

Can acceleration be thought of as a continuous infinite number of inertial frames, each frame having an infinitsmal change in velocity?
 

Similar threads

High School Understanding Newton's Third Law and the Net Force on Objects
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
2K
Undergrad Same old question, I still don't get it: E=1/2mv^2 - more E with V?
  • · Replies 41 ·
2
Replies
41
Views
5K
Undergrad Spinning objects and angular acceleration
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
High School How to determine applied force when two objects collide? (basic physics engine)
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
Undergrad Why don't we "fly up" in an accelerating elevator?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
Graduate Please Explain Elementary Physics Elevator Question
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
2K
High School Newton's third law (equal and opposite force)
  • · Replies 40 ·
2
Replies
40
Views
5K
Undergrad Conservation of angular momentum in the iceskater example
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
High School Movement in a Vacuum: Does Acceleration Show Anything?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
11K
High School Help me understand jerk of a falling object hitting an "ideal foam"
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K