Wouldn't it be faster to fly around Earth opposite its rotation?

Question

If you're flying to China, and you go in the direction of the earth's rotation, you're going the speed of the earth's rotation plus the speed of the plane, right?

What happens if you turn the plane around and fly against the earth's rotation? Are you going faster because the earth is rotation in the opposite direction as you're traveling?

It seems like it'd be right, but it can't be. I'm having trouble visualizing it, so someone just explain.

Thanks for your time!

Let's say you're on the ground where the plane is to end up. It starts on one side of the world and is traveling around to you. Assuming that two planes are traveling the same distance to reach you, where one is moving in-line with the rotation of the earth, and the other is moving opposite the rotation of the earth, won't the "opposite the rotation of the earth" plane reach you first? If the answer is "no" because of air resistance, in a vacuum would this be true?

Gravity doesn't effect the plane's speed, only how much force it needs to not drop out of the sky, correct?

Answer 1

In a plane, you are going at a speed relative to the air. Since all the air is moving with the Earth, the speed over land (assuming no wind) would be the same in any direction. In aviation this is called "ground speed". If the air didn't move with the Earth, the apparent wind at the Equator would be 1000 mph! But let's take your idea to space, were there is no air. A rocket ship orbiting with the rotation of the Earth would take longer to "reach China" than one at the same altitude that was orbiting in the reverse direction. Their "space speeds" would be the same, but the "ground speed" of the one going West would be greater. Most spacecraft orbit Eastward because they get a 700 to 1000 mph boost from the rotation of the Earth in that direction and so bigger payloads can be launched in that direction.

Answer 2

This is really a question of relativity[... don't worry, its not Einstein's relativity.

When the plane is on the ground, a viewer on the ground would say it is completely at rest. But a viewer in space would say that the plane is moving along with the earth as it rotates.

This is really important because everything else hinges on that point... even at rest relative to the ground, the plane is moving relative to a point in space.

When the plane takes off in the direction of the earth's rotation, an observer on the ground would see the plane going say 200 knots. An observer in space would say the plane is going 200 knots PLUS the speed of the earth's rotation.

Just the opposite would occur if the plane flies the other direction. The observer on the ground would still say the plane is going 200 knots. The observer in space would say 200 knots minus the speed of the earth's rotation.

The problem you might be having is forgeting Newton's first law of physics: An object in motion will stay in motion... inertia. When a plane takes off, it still has the inertia of the rotation of the Earth so its not "cut off" from the rotation of the Earth.

The same thing happens when you shoot a rocket into space. If you shoot a rocket straight up, to the space observer it will look like its arching.

Back to your plane scenario... Flying one way will be a bit faster than flying the other way but it has to do with Jet streams caused by... you guessed it... the rotation of the earth.

Answer 3

Per the second answer, yes, your actual velocity in relation to someone not on the planet would be different. But I think you're asking: "Would it be a shorter flight?" And the answer is, "it depends."

Our atmosphere, for the most part, is spinning around with us and the rest of the planet. And why shouldn't it? There's no appreciable drag that might slow its spin down. If it didn't spin with us, we'd have surface wnids at the equator in the hundreds of miles per hour, all the time.

The jet stream in the northern hemisphere goes from west to east. If you wanted to fly in the opposite direction from the earth's rotation, thinking that the earth would pass under you more quickly, say from a major US airport to China, you'd be going against the jetstream most of the way, which would make your trip actually take longer.

But I think the answer to your question is a couple paragraphs back: our atmosphere spins along with us.

Now when it comes to launching in to space, THEN the earth's rotation matters. The US launches the space shuttles from Florida because its closer to the equator than most of the rest of the US, thus the rotational velocity is higher. Also, they will lanuch in the same direction as the earth's spin to get an extra few hundred miles per hour of speed. Relative to the ground, the shuttle's speed is the same in ether direction. But when you look at how fast the craft is rotating around the axis of the planet, going with the rotation is a nice and necessary boost.

Answer 4

no because the plane will also be at rest with respect earth at the beginning of take off.

for the earth to be rotating with respect to the plane, the plane must accelerate towards the opposite direction constantly and so the 'speed' advantage is due to the planes own acceleration.

motion is relative.

that the earth is rotating with respective to the sun, is just a view point for someone on the sun. for us on earth we can say with as much accuracy that the sun is revolving around the earth.

the earth rotates counter clockwise when looked down from a position above the north pole.

Answer 5

You are rotating with the Earth (which by the way rotates at more than 1000 mph at points close to the Equator), so Earth's rotation will not bring any other country to your feet if you just go up in the air and wait. On the other hand the direction you take has an effect on your speed as it matters whether the wind blows behind you or against you.

Answer 6

The earth's atmosphere is rotating along with the earth. The plane travels in relation to the earth and its atmosphere, not its spin, which is in relation to the sun. Think of it this way....if you jump straight in the air, does the earth rotate underneath you so that when you land you're 50 feet away?

Bottom line...flying an equal distance in one direction compared to another will not get you there faster. A flight from LA to NY that takes 4 hours will take 4 hours going from NY to LA.

Answer 7

Just a guess but since the earth rotates in a clockwise motion this makes the wind blow from west to east meaning youd be flying into the wind the whole time if you went against the rotation.
Does this sound right.?

Answer 8

no the plane is in the atmosphere of the earth and the atmosphere is also rotating with the earth
if the plane cover distance it is in the atmosphere
so either you are going east or west it does not matter if you are inside atmosphere of the earth

Answer 9

well the question that your asking has to be asked from a perspective.. First of all Speed is not a vector quantity .. meaning by the term speed all your asking is a numerical quantity... Now if your asking Velocity yes there is some differences in that answer depending on where your observer is placed... Really you have to clarify where you observer is standing (on the plane, on earth, or in outerspace observing) . In those cases the VELOCITY of the plane can be different.

Answer 10

if you consider the earths atmosphere as a part of the earth then according to the law of conservation of momentum the time taken would be the same. the earth is spinning so fast that if your logic was true the moment you jumped up you would crash into a wall.