Which of the following are inertial reference frames? a. a car driving at steady speed on a straight and level road. b. a car driving at steady speed up a 10∘ incline. c. a car speeding up after leaving a stop sign. d. a car driving at steady speed around a curve.

Answers:

A. A car driving at steady speed on a straight and level road.

B. A car driving at steady speed up a 10∘ incline.

Explanation:

An object is said to be in an inertial reference frame if the net force acting on the object is zero. According to Newton's second law, this also means that the acceleration of the object is also zero:

Since F=0, a=0 as well.

Let's now analyze each case.

A. A car driving at steady speed on a straight and level road. --> YES: this is an inertial reference frame, because the car is keeping a constant speed and a constant direction, so its velocity is not changing, and its acceleration is zero.

B. A car driving at steady speed up a 10∘ incline. --> YES: this is an inertial reference frame, because the car is keeping a constant speed and a constant direction, so its velocity is not changing, and its acceleration is zero.

C. A car speeding up after leaving a stop sign. --> NO: this is not an intertial reference frame, because the car is speeding up, so it is accelerating.

D. A car driving at steady speed around a curve. --> NO: this is not an inertial reference frame, because the car is changing direction, therefore its velocity is changing and so the car is accelerating.

So the only two choices which are correct are A and B.