if the world is turning at 900 miles an hour.and we live in say sussex and we want to go to scotland...can we get into a helicopter which goes straight up out of the earths atmosphere....waits an hour and comes straight down and lands in scotland...............
2006-11-04 03:24:40 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
obviously if the helicopter was ok for space travel
2006-11-04 03:30:11 · update #1
It wouldn't have to go out into space to let the earth "slide by" underneath it. You'd just have to use fixed point to calculate by to prove that the helicopter has remained in the same place. Otherwise it will seem that it has flown very slowly from Sussex to Scotland.
Good old Einstein's relativity wanders through here, because to someone on the grond, the helicopter would be flying away instead of staying fixed while to somebody up on the International Space Station, for example, there would be a helicopter maintaining its position relative to the ISS and "floating" over the earth.
2006-11-04 03:39:17 · answer #1 · answered by NotsoaNonymous 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would not work for Going to Scotland, but it could work for going to say America, Russia, Asia etc.
The world turns only on its East-West axis, so the only way you could to Scotland from Sussex is to wait for the Orbital Tilt to be enough likes of Summer-Winter tilt.
If you go high enough above the atmosphere and remain stationary, the world would continue spinning while you wait above.
The contrary is when Satelites are in what is called a Geo-synchronised Orbit, where by they remain at the same point abovwe the atmosphere as they match their speed to the atmospheric turning of that point to which they are orbiting at.
Calculating orbital heights, velocities and positionals are a little tricky, but it could be manipulated to produce the type of travel you describe, but not in the direction you indicate.
2006-11-04 11:40:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Even if it worked, doing so would cost much more fuel than taking a standard flight path.
The atmosphere would get too thin to support a helicopter long before you got there.
Sitting on earth, the helicopter has momentum in the direction of the earth's rotation at that instant. You would need to expend some energy to overcome that momentum to 'stay still'.
Unless you expended more energy horizontally to enter an orbit, you would simply fall back down.
2006-11-04 12:39:07 · answer #3 · answered by Frank N 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, because you, the helicopter, the atmosphere and everything around you are also moving at 900 miles an hour - and you have to move relative to the earth to get anywhere.
Also, Scotland is North and the Earth moves East-West.
2006-11-04 11:32:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately, the world rotates on an East/West Axis so even if the theory could be put into practise you would never get to Scotland from Sussex.
2006-11-04 11:35:22 · answer #5 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
nope, two reasons if the earth is moving at 900 miles an hour to is the helicopter(if you throw a ball strait up in a car moving the ball keeps going in the cars direction) and the earths gravity will pull you in a constant falling circle (satalites are always falling towards earth but at a grade so they miss the earths curve and keep going round)
2006-11-04 11:35:26 · answer #6 · answered by llcooljerad 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i'm not sure if a helicopter could do that, you will need a space craft
2006-11-04 11:28:17 · answer #7 · answered by pseudoname 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes
2006-11-04 11:34:20 · answer #8 · answered by Clint 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋