Sunday, 10 August 2014

FOAM OF THE DAZE (BORIS VIAN) AND THE FICTIOUS FORCES

The floor of the lift swelled under their feet and with a big and soft spasm, it took them at their flat”
Boris Vian describes the feeling you have when a lift stops very well. Something similar happens, but at horizontal direction, when a bus starts and we are surprised standing without being grabbed. We notice how something pulls us backwards (or forward if the bus stops).
However, this “something” doesn´t exist, there´s no force which pulls us backwards. These forces are called fictitious forces (this is science fiction indeed)

Another very well- known fictitious force is the centrifugal one, which doesn´t exist either, like all the fictitious forces. They appear in order to apply the fundamental equation of Dynamics to the no inertial reference systems.
( An issue that is not clear for me when I read this quote by Boris Vian is if the lift was going up or down before stopping,because both of them produce a similar sensation) 

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