A Poynting Vector Analogue in Rotating Reference Frames

Abstract

The equation of motion of a particle of mass m at position r and moving with velocity r dot in a non-inertial reference frame rotating with angular velocity w can be expressed in terms of mechanical electric E  and magnetic H field analogues of those found in electromagnetic theory. In this paper these analogue fields are used to define a Poynting vector analogue field S interpreted as a force current vector field and it is shown that the S vector field has a natural Helmholtz decomposition - the irrotational component being 1/2 the previously identified centripetal force current vector obtained from Ampere's law when applied to these analogue E and H fields. The Divergence Theorem and Stoke' s Theorem are used to associate S with rotational power and rotational kinetic energy.