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obog t1_j0fdv6c wrote

Reply to comment by SomeoneRandom5325 in Does rotation break relativity? by starfyredragon

Wouldn't an orbital frame not be inertial? I mean in a small scale it would appear so, but an orbital reference frame would be the same as a rotational frame which is non-inertial. That can be proven by the fact that if you stick two object close to each other in orbit, they will drift around from where they were relative to each other. That wouldn't happen in a fully inertial frame of reference.

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mnvoronin t1_j0gbi6c wrote

Technically not and you can perform some tests confirming that (objects on the far wall will be accelerating ever so slightly compared to the objects on the inside wall), but the effect on the typical spacestation scale is very small (in order of nanometers per second squared).

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obog t1_j0gjarp wrote

Well yeah, as I said on small scales it does seem to be inertial but it isn't quite and those effects are noticeable between multiple objects in similar orbits.

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