epäinertiaaliset

Epäinertiaaliset refers to non-inertial reference frames in physics. An inertial reference frame is one in which an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force. This principle is also known as Newton's first law of motion or the law of inertia.

In contrast, a non-inertial reference frame is one that is accelerating. This acceleration can be a change in speed, a change in direction, or both. When observing motion from a non-inertial frame, apparent forces, often called fictitious forces or pseudo-forces, arise. These forces are not real in the sense of being caused by physical interactions between objects, but rather are a consequence of the observer's accelerated motion.

Common examples of fictitious forces experienced in non-inertial frames include the centrifugal force, which appears to push objects outward in a rotating frame, and the Coriolis force, which deflects moving objects on a rotating surface like the Earth. These forces are crucial for accurately describing phenomena in accelerating systems. For instance, understanding weather patterns and ocean currents necessitates accounting for the Coriolis effect due to Earth's rotation, which makes it a non-inertial frame. Physicists use transformations, such as the Galilean transformation for classical mechanics or the Lorentz transformation for special relativity, to relate observations made in different reference frames, including non-inertial ones.