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Galileo's ship thought experiment imagines a windowless ship moving at constant speed on a calm sea. What did he conclude about a person inside it trying to detect the ship's motion by themselves?
AA description of motion is only meaningful relative to a reference frame
BThe person could feel the ship's speed directly through the floor
CThe ship's motion could be measured from its engine noise alone
DMotion at constant speed produces no physical effects at all
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. A description of motion is only meaningful relative to a reference frame
1. Galileo imagined a person shut inside a smoothly moving ship with no windows.
2. Only by comparing notes with someone on shore could either describe the other as moving.
3. This led him to the conclusion that describing motion requires specifying a reference frame.
_Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 "Motion in One Dimension", section 2.1 Relative Motion, Distance, and Displacement_
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