If a supersonic jet left New York at noon on Monday, traveling westward around the world and arrived back in New York after only 23 hours of flying, would the pilot arrive at 11:00 AM on Monday, an hour BEFORE he left?
I'm guessing the International date line would mess this up, but I was hoping for somebody to give me a more definitive answer.
2006-07-08 04:47:59 · 11 answers · asked by mistersato 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
The international date line would mess this up. Of course, that's the point of this line.
Let's assume that our days are exactly 24 hours and our years are exactly 365 days. Then the time and date can be figured out by the position of the earth in the solar system. Travelling on the sphere would change it; but if instantaneous travel is allowed, travelling around the earth to the same point had better be the same exact time and date that you left.
If we keep with the westward travel, travelling instantaneously around the earth would result in -24 hours. So, there has to be something somewhere that adds a day. Similarly, if it were eastward travel, there would be a gain of 24 hours, which means that the line must remove 1 day the other way around.
2006-07-08 04:55:19 · answer #1 · answered by russian2163 2 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Let's consider it is summer time.
So: NY-time = UT - 4 (Universal Time, Greenwich Mean Time GMT).
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Monday noon NY-time = Monday 16:00 UT (04:00 p.m.)
(12:00 a.m. NY-time + 4 hours = 04:00 p.m. UT = 16:00 UT)
after a flight of 23 hours = Monday 16:00 UT + 23 hours
= Monday "39:00" UT
= Monday + 24 hours + 15:00 UT
= Tuesday 15:00 UT = Tuesday 03:00 p.m. UT
= Tuesday 11:00 a.m. NY-time.
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So, the jet left New-York on Monday noon local time, flew for 23 hours and came back on Tuesday 11:00 a.m. local time.
The jet flew for 23 hours in reality, and clock says the same.
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I am glad that a "Universal Time" exists. It is used by astronomers, scientists, when they need an "absolute" time-landmark on Earth.
2006-07-08 05:16:25 · answer #2 · answered by Axel ∇ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He would arrive in 23 hours from noon. 11:00 am on Tuesday. If I jumped up and down for 23 hours starting on Mon at noon when would I finish 11:00 am on Tues. just because your flying doesn't make time vanish
2006-07-08 04:53:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tricky tricky. The international date line and the flight direction mess up this question. and is one of the reasons that they made the greenwich time at midnight, so people would not notice. But for the airplane the fact is it moves a certain distance and lands in 23 hours, so the measuered time is twenty three hours later, so if it lands in the same spot it can be considered as not having gone anywhere but simply as having disapeared for 23 hrs. like in the philadelphia experiment
2006-07-08 05:01:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's relative! If your sane then you'll arraive 23 hours later or 11am Tuesday and If your insane then you'll have to with airport security on what the current time is once you'd arrave 23 hours after your flight. But the true Question is "Are you sane enough to eat airplane food for a whole day?"
2006-07-08 04:59:06 · answer #5 · answered by Kuya ng bayan 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would 11:00 AM Tuesday
2006-07-08 04:51:56 · answer #6 · answered by Nietzsche 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
since the plane lands back in New York, he would arrive at whatever NY local time it was.
2006-07-08 04:53:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
24 hours is 24 hours. you'll end up there a day later. you'd be in the same timezone.
2006-07-08 04:50:58 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow. If he did it every day would he start getting younger?
2006-07-08 04:52:05 · answer #9 · answered by TC 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it would depend on the month. Sorry, I have no idea.
2006-07-08 04:51:46 · answer #10 · answered by daljack -a girl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋