if you could put on some kind of huver belt?

Question

and go up in the air a couple miles above new york while the earth turned below you then after about 3 hours because the earth is turning under you then you would come down in california. but if you get in a jet and travel west at aprox. 600 miles an hour why does it still take you 3 hours to get to california.

Answer 1

If you went up and hovered you'd still have the majority of the same velocity, you'd just have been orbiting the center of the earth a bit higher and youd come down near Albany.

To come down near San Francisco you'd need to cancel your velocity too, and that takes a lot of energy.

There's a major difference in east-west compared to west-east flight times, but that's due to prevailing winds and jetstreams.

When the Germans fired their long range guns, like HARP, they had to adjust elevation according to which way they fired, so it's not like there's never any difference due to rotation. But at low altitudes you are stuck with swimming through our atmosphere and that's the vast majority of the effect.

Answer 2

Thats a great question! I'm having a hard time formulating an answer. Something to do with air molicules moving with the earth, pulling you along and your momentum... Heres the funny part, theres a three hour time difference from east coast to west coast, right? Doesnt it take something like five hours to fly to california, non stop? That means that even though your flying forwards, your still going backwards. Crazy!!!

Answer 3

I started to answer this because it seemed simple enough but then I decided that I'm not sure. I'm wondering if it would actually take even longer if the earth was not spinning below the plain. And does it take longer that the 3 hours on the return flight? I'll be watching for these answers too.

Answer 4

EVERYONE LISTEN I HAVE THE ANSWER

ok so ur flying 600 mph right dosent matter because ur in the EARTHS GRAVITATIONAL PULL AND THERFORE UR PULLED WITH THE EARTH SO take and orange say its the earth ok well then put ur hand on it move them at the same rate then ur hand a lil faster thats y


oooooooooooooooooooooooooo poned