"The Equality of Inertial and Gravitational Mass as an argument for the General Postule of Relativity"

Question

1. Why must the observer in the chest be secured to the floor? Explain using Newton's 3rd Law.
2. Prior to discovering the hook and rope, what would the observer in the chest think happened to him if we suddenly stopped accelerating the chest ?
3. How can we justify a claim that says the chest is at rest and the chest is accelerating at the same time?
4. Draw a free body diagram of the object hanging from a rope inside the chest from a) the observer in the chest's perspective and b) the Galilean observer's perspective.

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1. Why must the observer in the chest be secured to the floor? Explain using Newton's 3rd Law.
2. Prior to discovering the hook and rope, what would the observer in the chest think happened to him if we suddenly stopped accelerating the chest ?
3. How can we justify a claim that says the chest is at rest and the chest is accelerating at the same time?
4. Draw a free body diagram of the object hanging from a rope inside the chest from a) the observer in the chest's perspective and b) the Galilean observer's perspective.

Answer 1

Hi. That's a lot of work for one question. The word problem describes the nature of acceleration due to gravity as being non-distinguishable from the acceleration due to, well, acceleration. This is easily disproved by the fact that gravitational 'acceleration' has a common center point (the center of the body) whereas the 'acceleration acceleration' is always parallel lines. You'll have to work out the details for yourself.