Relative Motion

In the previous lectures we have described particle motion as it would be seen by

an observer standing still at a fixed origin. This type of motion is called absolute
motion.

In many situations of practical interest, we find ourselves forced to describe the

motion of bodies while we are simultaneously moving with respect to a fixed
reference frame. There are many examples where such situations occur:

The absolute motion of a passenger inside an aircraft is best described if we first

consider the motion of the passenger relative to the aircraft, and then the motion of
the aircraft relative to the ground. If we try to track the motion of aircraft in the
airspace using satellites, it makes sense to first consider the motion of the aircraft
relative to the satellite and then combine this motion with the motion of the
satellite relative to the earth’s surface.

In this lecture we will introduce the ideas of relative motion analysis.

We say that a body is in motion with respect to another if its position changes
over time, while if its position does not change over time, we say that the body is
in a state of relative rest. Movement and rest are relative concepts.
Consider a passenger bus passing near a station bus:
• The station is stationary relative to the earth.
• The house is in motion with respect to the sun.
• The bus is in motion relative to the station.
• The passengers are in motion relative to the station.
• Passengers are at rest in relation to the bus.
So motion and rest are relative concepts: that is, with respect to whom we consider
them.
Note also that the station can be considered to be in motion for the passengers.

We must specify the references according to which we study the movement.

We want to study the kinetic quantities such as position, velocity, and acceleration
of a material point in the reference R(O,x,y,z) when these quantities are known in
the reference R′(O′,x′,y′,z′), which is in a state of motion with respect to R(O,x,y,z).
This process is called motion composition
Let us have two references R(O,x,y,z) and R′(O′,x′,y′,z′):

• R(O,x,y,z) with the unit vectors 𝒊, 𝒋 , 𝒌 who is the in the rest, it is called
absolute reference.
• R′(O′,x′,y′,z′) with the unit vectors 𝒊′, 𝒋′ , 𝒌′ is in a state of translational and
rotational motion with respect to R(O,x,y,z), is called the relative reference
• The movement with respect to the two parameters is called absolute and
relative movement, respectively.
 position vecteur
Let be M the moving point:

• The absolute position vector :

• The relative position vector :

The velocity vector of the material point M in the reference R(O,x,y,z) is called
the absolute velocity

The velocity vector of the material point M in the reference R’(O’,x’,y’,z’) is

called the relative velocity
The acceleration, vector of the material point M in the reference R(O,x,y,z) is
called the absolute acceleration

The acceleration vecteur of the material point M in the reference R’(O’,x’,y’,z’) is

called the relative acceleration

The above relationships are known as the direct method for calculating absolute
velocity and absolute acceleration.
 Derivation relationship between references R and R'
The frame R’ is moving and the frame R is at rest, but each one sees himself at
rest and sees the other frame as moving, then we can write:
Let the vector 𝑽(𝒕) and its components in the frame R’ be given as follows:
   
V  x' i '  y ' j '  z ' k '
The arbitrary movement of R′ compared to R is the composition of:
• a translation movement (which we will characterize by 𝒗(𝑶′ )/𝑹
• a rotational movement characterized by ΩR’/R = -ΩR/R′ (rotation vector)

Ω: Angular velocity × unit radius of the axis around which rotation is made

The variation over time of a vector 𝑽(𝒕) in a reference R can be written as:
 
 dV   dV  
        V
 dt  R  dt  R '
known by the Bour formula
 Velocities composition law
Let 𝑶𝑴 be the position vector of M in the reference frame R, we can write :

By applying the Bour law to 𝑶′𝑴

𝒗 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 = 𝒗𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈 + 𝒗𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆

 Let's specify the speed adjectives used:
𝒗 𝒂 = 𝒗𝒅 + 𝒗𝒓
• 𝒗 𝒂 :The absolute velocity is the velocity of M in the fixed frame of reference (R).

• 𝒗𝒅 :The relative velocity is the velocity of M in the moving reference frame (R′).

• 𝒗𝒓 :The drag velocity is the velocity that M would have if it were fixed in the moving
frame of reference or we can say is the velocity of R’ relative to R

𝒅𝑶𝑶′
𝒗𝒅 = + 𝛀 ∧ 𝑶′𝑴
𝒅𝒕 𝑹

𝒅𝑶𝑶′
: Represents the translation velocity
𝒅𝒕 𝑹
 Acceleration composition law
By the same way
  
  dva  d     dvr   dve 
a      vr  ve      
 dt  R  dt  R  dt  R  dt  R

   
 dvr   dvr 
       vr
 dt  R  dt  R '
  d  d OO'  
 dve 


    
 R  dt  dt  R


  O ' M  
 d 2 OO' 

 2

 
 d
 dt
  O ' M


dt  R  dt R R


d 
 
  d    d O' M

 dt   O' M    dt   O' M     dt



R  R  R
 
  d O' M 
d 

 dt   O ' 
M

 
 d 
 
 dt   O ' M     
 
    O' M 
R  R  dt 
 R' 

d 
 
  d     
 dt   O' M    dt   O' M  (  vr )    (  O' M )
R  R
 
 dve   d OO'   d 
2    
         O' M  (  vr )    (  O' M )
 dt  R  dt  R  dt  R
2


     d OO' 
2
 d   
 a   r  2(  vr )   2

     O' M    (  O' M )
 dt R  dt  R
    
a  r c e

Relative acceleration   dvr 
r   
 dt  R '
Coriolis acceleration: it is the acceleration of the physical point resulting from the
rotation of the reference R’ 
 
 c  2(  vr )
Drag acceleration: is the acceleration of the reference R’ relative to R

  d OO' 
2
 d   
 e   2

     O' M    (  O' M )
 dt R  dt  R
 Particular cases
1. Translation motion only:    
  0  c  0

Then if the axes of the frames R and R’ are parallel, And the axes were moving in
the same direction so:
     
Ox // O' x', (Oy // O' y' ), (Oz // O' z' ) i  i ' , j  j ' ,k  k '
2. Rotation motion only O≡O’:
OM  O' M

2.1 OO'  0
 d OO'   d 2 OO'  
     0
 dt  R  dt 2  R
  

 
2.2  d  d 
  cte 0  O' M  0
dt dt