why do objects on the ground look as though they are still or moving slowly?

Question

in a aeroplane

Answer 1

Distance ka matter hai! Guru!

The more higher you go, the distance and angle from which you see the ground increases.

Let's take it the other way. When you are in the ground, you can se the sky more vast and covering all of that. A plane if moves in the sky is flying above 600 km/h. You go more closer to it, you feel the actual speed. But if you are at ground, you will feel that the plane is going slowly. This happens when you are in an aeroplane. The people look smaller and things go slowly because of the increase in distance and angle.

Answer 2

For the same reason planes look small and look like they're travelling slow.

The angle moved is equal to the actual distance travelled by the object divided by the distance from the observer. So a plane travelling 400 mph at 40 miles is equivalent to a fast ant moving 1/3 in/s at 10 ft.

Answer 3

It has to do with the degree of movement pertaining to the arc your eye can see, not the actual distance it moves.

At the distance you're talking about (perhaps 5 miles), an object moving 100 yards only takes up like 1/10 of a degree of arc (very rough estimate) or a millimeter or 2 of distance across your eye.

Answer 4

There are two reasons for such a phenomenon,one it parallax the other is called three bottles of beer.

Answer 5

I'm glad you got a glimpse of the earths rotation - lucky you.