InterviewSolution
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1. When an object falls to the ground, the Earth moves up to meet it. Why is the earth's motion notnoticeable? |
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Answer» It is totally arbitrary wether we say that the apple falls onto the earth or the earth falls onto the apple. Both scenarios are completely equivalent, since both (apple and earth) just fall towards each other and collide and it is entirely up to us to choose areference framein respect to which we describe the process. A reference frame is basically just the perspective from which we ‘view’ the physical world. In the case of the falling apple, we're usually standing on the earth itself,so we naturally assume the rest frame of the earth as our frame of reference. In this frame, the apple appears to fall onto the earth, while the earth appears to be at rest. Were you very small and standing on the apple, well then you would consider the apple at rest (along with yourself) and the earth as falling towards you |
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