It was obvious long ago that for mechanical behavior a gravitational field and an accelerating frame of reference are equivalent.1 Or in other words: it is impossible to decide whether you are in an accelerating elevator or in a closed room on a planet with a different value of g. In the first section of this article I will describe a simple experiment that illustrates this. In the second part I will give a numerical model that predicts the results. Data collection and the calculations were carried out using Coach and CoachLab2.2

Topics
Transistors, Sensors, Numerical methods, Public policy and governance
1.
Eric M.
 
Rogers
,
Physics for the Inquiring Mind
(
Princeton University Press
,
Princeton, NJ
,
1977
), p.
497
.
Google Scholar
 
2.

Coach and CoachLab2 are products of CMA. See www.cma-science.nl/english. Coach also supports Texas Instruments CBL's and Vernier LabPro.

© 2012 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2012
American Association of Physics Teachers
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