About Inertial Frames of Reference, Velocities, and Velocity-Dependent Masses
Year: 1989
Keywords: Reference Frames, Velocity, Mass
- Inertial Frames of Reference: The concept of inertial frame of reference (IFR is usually tied to Galileo's "law of inertia" or to "Newton's first principle": "A body remains at rest or in motion with constant velocity if and only if it is not subjected to the influence of other bodies".
- Velocities: The concept of velocity arounsed no difficulties in Newtonian physics. Once length and time intervals defined in terms of conventional units, velocity was defined as the limit.
- Velocity Dependent Masses: Mass is defined as the proportionality factor between the first dynamic quantity, the linear momentum p, and the velocity v (or w? or else?) - a purely kinematic quantity.