Someone asked me about this today and I thought I'd pass it along to
the list too in case someone might find it useful. A few years ago I
produced a video that is by no means original. I have had it posted on
the web for several years now and plan to keep it available there.
This video was prepared for an exhibit I helped produce for the Clark
Planetarium in Salt Lake City, UT. Only a few seconds was needed for the
exhibit, but this version is about 2 minutes 28 seconds long. The audio
either doesn't exist (because it is slow motion in places) or is just
the natural background.
The video shows rotating vs. fixed reference frames, i.e., inertial vs.
non-inertial frames as viewed by a camera mounted on a child's city park
merry-go-round and by a remote camera on a nearby ladder. In the first
pair of scenes the children swing a "Foucault Pendulum" while on the
merry-go-round. In the second scene they roll a ball back and forth
across the merry-go-round. The effect of the rotating reference frame is
immediately obvious.
You can find the video at: http://planet.weber.edu/PHYSICS/RefFrames.html
Enjoy,
John
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John E. Sohl, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Weber State University
2508 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2508