← Measurement toolkit; position, distance, and displacement

Moving or at rest? Name the frame first

Your train waits at the platform. Through the window, the train alongside begins to slide smoothly past. For a moment you honestly cannot tell: is it moving, or are you?

You've already seen that positions are measured within a chosen frame of reference. Whether something is moving is a frame question too.

An object is moving in a frame if its position in that frame is changing. It is at rest in that frame if its position is not changing.

Take a crate on the deck of a boat gliding along a river. In the boat's frame, the crate's position, measured from the boat, is not changing: at rest. In the riverbank's frame, the crate's position changes as the boat glides: moving.

Both answers are correct. There is no frame-free answer to 'is it moving?'. The question only makes sense once a frame is named.

A backpack lies on a seat of a bus driving along a straight road. Which description of the backpack is correct?

A passenger stands still on a moving airport walkway. Which description of the passenger is correct?

The window moment works the same way: name the frame first. Say it was your train that pulled away. In the platform's frame your train is moving; in your train's frame, the other one is.

A woman stands on a station platform as a train rolls past her. Which description of the woman is correct?

Your turn

Car A and car B drive side by side at the same steady speed down a straight road. Which description of car B is correct?

A cyclist rides past a van parked at the curb. Which description of the van is correct?

A seatbelt buckle rests in its holder in a car driving down a highway. Is there one true, frame-free answer to whether the buckle is moving?