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Key Concepts: Motion of any object depends on the frame
of reference in which that
motion
is measured. Imagine you are on a
chair at the center of a merry-go-round watching
a
friend on another chair at the outer edge of the merry-go-round. Once the merry-go-round
starts
turning, from your perspective, your friend is still not moving - no
relative velocity nor
relative
acceleration with respect to you.
Actually as the merry-go-round speeds up to its
terminal
speed, your friend has both a velocity and an acceleration with respect to
a fixed
frame
of reference even though the distance and direction of your friend does not
change
relative
to you. Velocity is a change in the
position vector and acceleration is a change
in
the velocity - both referred to a frame of reference.
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