Editing Inertial frame of reference (section)

===Absolute space===
{{Main|Absolute space and time}}
Newton posited an absolute space considered well-approximated by a frame of reference stationary relative to the [[fixed stars]]. An inertial frame was then one in uniform translation relative to absolute space. However, some "relativists",<ref name="Mach">{{Cite book |author=Ernst Mach |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencemechanic01jourgoog |title=The Science of Mechanics |date=1915 |publisher=The Open Court Publishing Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencemechanic01jourgoog/page/n59 38] |quote=rotating sphere Mach cord OR string OR rod.}}</ref> even at the time of Newton, felt that absolute space was a defect of the formulation, and should be replaced.

The expression ''inertial frame of reference'' ({{langx|de|Inertialsystem}}) was coined by [[Ludwig Lange (physicist)|Ludwig Lange]] in 1885, to replace Newton's definitions of "absolute space and time" with a more [[Operational definition#Science|operational definition]]:<ref>{{Cite journal
|author=Lange, Ludwig
|date=1885
|title=Über die wissenschaftliche Fassung des Galileischen Beharrungsgesetzes
|journal=Philosophische Studien
|volume=2}}</ref><ref name=Barbour>{{Cite book|author=Julian B. Barbour |title=The Discovery of Dynamics |edition=Reprint of 1989 ''Absolute or Relative Motion?'' |pages=645–646 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQidkYkleXcC&q=Ludwig+Lange+%22operational+definition%22&pg=PA645
|isbn=0-19-513202-5 |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2001 }}</ref> 

{{blockquote|<i>A reference frame in which a mass point thrown from the same point in three different (non co-planar) directions follows rectilinear paths each time it is thrown, is called an inertial frame.</i><ref name=Iro>L. Lange (1885) as quoted by Max von Laue in his book (1921) ''Die Relativitätstheorie'', p. 34, and translated by {{Cite book|page=169 |title=A Modern Approach to Classical Mechanics |author=Harald Iro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L5ckgdxA5YC&q=inertial+noninertial&pg=PA179 |isbn=981-238-213-5 |date=2002 |publisher=World Scientific}}</ref>}}

The inadequacy of the notion of "absolute space" in Newtonian mechanics is spelled out by Blagojevich:<ref name="Blagojević2">{{Cite book|title=Gravitation and Gauge Symmetries |author=Milutin Blagojević |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8JDSi_eNbwC&q=inertial+frame+%22absolute+space%22&pg=PA5 |isbn=0-7503-0767-6 |publisher=CRC Press |date=2002}}</ref>

{{blockquote|<i>
*The existence of absolute space contradicts the internal logic of classical mechanics since, according to the Galilean principle of relativity, none of the inertial frames can be singled out.
*Absolute space does not explain inertial forces since they are related to acceleration with respect to any one of the inertial frames.
*Absolute space acts on physical objects by inducing their resistance to acceleration but it cannot be acted upon.
</i>| Milutin Blagojević: ''Gravitation and Gauge Symmetries'', p. 5}}

The utility of operational definitions was carried much further in the special theory of relativity.<ref name=Woodhouse0>{{Cite book|title=Special relativity |author=NMJ Woodhouse |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tM9hic_wo3sC&q=Woodhouse+%22operational+definition%22&pg=PA126 |isbn=1-85233-426-6 |publisher=Springer |location=London |date=2003}}</ref> Some historical background including Lange's definition is provided by DiSalle, who says in summary:<ref name=DiSalle>{{Cite book
|author =Robert DiSalle
|chapter =Space and Time: Inertial Frames
|title =The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
|editor =Edward N. Zalta
|chapter-url =http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/spacetime-iframes/#Oth
|date =Summer 2002
|publisher =Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University
|access-date =9 September 2008
|archive-date =7 January 2016
|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160107065921/http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/spacetime-iframes/#Oth
|url-status =live
}}</ref>

{{blockquote|<i>The original question, "relative to what frame of reference do the laws of motion hold?" is revealed to be wrongly posed. The laws of motion essentially determine a class of reference frames, and (in principle) a procedure for constructing them.</i>|[http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2002/entries/spacetime-iframes/#Oth Robert DiSalle ''Space and Time: Inertial Frames'']}}