Reference frames

What is the correct reference frame to measure potential energy? Did it bother you that we chose the ball to have zero potential energy before we dropped it? The ball was not at zero height—if it was it couldn’t have fallen because it would have already been on the ground. For that matter, even the ground is not truly zero height because you could dig a hole and let the ball fall farther into the hole. So from the perspective of potential energy, where is “zero height”? Is there even such a thing? The answer to that question is that the energy of a system depends on the reference frame in which things are measured. For example, if the reference frame is the room, a 1 kg ball 1 meter from the floor has a potential energy of 9.8 J. If the reference frame is the ground two stories down, the potential energy is 68.6 J. The actual position of the ball is the same but the choice of reference frames is different.
The choice of a reference frame, such as where “zero” is, is arbitrary because it is differences in energy that matter, not absolute values. A ball that falls 1 meter loses 9.8 J of potential energy. It does not matter if the ball falls from 1 meter to zero or from 7 meters to 6 meters. The amount of potential energy lost or gained from a change in height is independent of where zero is defined. We are therefore free to choose any reference frame that makes the calculation easiest! The only rule is that the reference frame should not change in the middle of a problem.
Different reference frames for kinetic energy of a man on the Earth You might think kinetic energy is independent of reference frames. A ball at rest in your hand has zero velocity, doesn’t it? In your reference frame, which is fixed to the Earth, the ball’s kinetic energy is zero. Consider, however, that Earth is moving through space at 29,780 meters per second. Relative to the Solar System, the ball on the table has a kinetic energy of 443 × 106 joules! Like potential energy, kinetic energy also depends on the reference frame in which speed is measured. Show Relativity
A 60 kg man is sitting on the floor of an airplane 8,000 m high traveling at 850 km/h. How much total mechanical energy does he have relative to the reference frame of the plane?
  1. 0 J
  2. 1,700,000 J
  3. 4,700,000 J
  4. 6,400,000 J
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