ABSTRACT
The analyses of a majority of transport problems are carried out using a laboratory frame attached to the earth. As noted in Sections 2.6 and 4.1, such a laboratory frame can generally be regarded as an inertial frame of reference since it is approximately stationary with respect to the fixed stars. Although this type of inertial frame does provide a satisfactory reference frame for most transport problems, there are problems which are analyzed more efficiently using reference frames which are translating and/or rotating with respect to the fixed inertial frame of reference. In this chapter, various aspects of moving reference frames are discussed, and the utilization of a rotating frame is illustrated in the analysis of an ultracentrifuge.
