Re: Apollo Data and Energy/Centrifugal Potential

[palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer)]

> Leigh: This is clearly an accelerated frame ( I had over looked that) and I
> can see there must be centrifugal effects. I have not heard of centrifual
> potential before and have not figured out how to determine it. If it is a
> positive value that will help me. Can you give me further guidance?

See an introductory mechanics textbook (2nd year at our university)
such as Fowles, Barger & Olsson, or Arya. Look up "centrifugal
potential" in the index. It's in those three, and "centrifugal
barrier" is the keyword in the index of Goldstein (*not* a book we
use in second year!).

> Also you
> wrote:
> "....namely an implicitly rotating frame in which Earth and Moon are at
> rest."
>
> Is it the Earths rotation, our platform of observation, or the curved
> trajectory that is the culprit, or both?

Neither. It is the corotating frame in which both Earth and Moon are
nearly stationary. The x-axis of the frame passes throught the centers
of both, with the z-axis perpendicular to the orbital plane(s).

Perhaps the Nuffield people intended for the discrepancy to be found.
It would indicate that conservation of energy is being applied in a
context in which it would not be expected to hold.

Leigh