Trägheitskräften

Trägheitskräfte, also known as fictitious forces or inertial forces, are a concept arising in non-inertial reference frames. They are not real forces in the Newtonian sense, meaning they do not arise from the interaction between objects or fields. Instead, they are apparent forces that observers in accelerating frames perceive due to the inertia of objects.

In an inertial reference frame, Newton's first law of motion, the law of inertia, states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. However, when an observer is in a reference frame that is accelerating, this law no longer holds true in its simplest form. To maintain the validity of Newtonian mechanics within such a frame, fictitious forces are introduced to account for the observed deviations from expected motion.

Common examples of inertial forces include the centrifugal force, which appears to push objects outward from the center of rotation in a rotating frame, and the Coriolis force, which deflects moving objects in a rotating frame. The centrifugal force is a consequence of an object's tendency to continue in a straight line (inertia) when the reference frame is rotating. The Coriolis force arises from the combination of an object's inertia and the rotation of the reference frame. These forces are crucial for describing phenomena like weather patterns on Earth and the motion of objects in centrifuges. They are mathematical constructs that allow for the application of Newton's laws within accelerating systems.