since earth is moving, can we just stay up in a nonmoving plane and wait for our location to arrive?

Answer 1

Hmmm,,,yes we can, but we have to stop moving with Earth first.

Answer 2

Certainly. But there's are a couple of catches.

1) It would only work if our destination happened to be on the same latitude as where we started. The rotating earth will only bring locations of the same latitude under our feet.

2) In order to counteract the eastward rotation of the earth, the plane would have to fly westward with exactly the opposite velocity. Since the earth's atmosphere is moving along with the earth as it rotates, our airplane would have to fight a lot of air resistance. at 40° latitude, we would have to fly westward (against the wind) at a speed of about 800 mph. We would not be saving any fuel. It would basically be no different than taking a trip toward the west in a plane whose airspeed is 800 mph.

Answer 3

With out any reference frame, one cannot say a plane is moving or not.

Imagine a pole of 10 km height is erected on the ground. A bird is sitting on the top of the pole. Even at this height the bird cannot see the rotation of earth. For the man standing at the bottom of the pole and for the bird at the top of the pole, each one is at rest with respect to the other.

If the bird flies of the pole, the man will say that the bird is flying. But to the bird, the man is moving against the direction of its motion.

The reference frame is very important when ever we speak about motion.

The same picture will be different, if we shift our reference frame to a distant star which is at rest for both the observers; [the bird and the man].

A dog at a distant star will view the picture in a different way.

For the dog both the bird and man are rotating about an axis of earth. The dog will say that the earth, the man and the bird are all rotating toward one direction (east) with a rotational speed of 1672.4 km/hour.

The dog will say that there is no relative motion between the bird and the man. The dog will infer that according to the man the bird is at rest or according to the man the bird is non- moving. But it knows that both are moving toward east with the same speed.

If now the bird flies off the pole toward west with a speed of 1672.4 km/hour, the dog will say that the bird is flying with a speed of 1672.4km/h toward west and the man and earth are moving toward east with a speed of 1672.4 km/h.

We shall remove the imaginary pole, when the the bird was at rest .The bird will fall directly on the head of the man. The man says that since the bird had no motion (non-moving) it had fallen directly on his head. Had the bird had a motion toward west with a speed of 1672.4km, the bird will not fall directly on his head. It will fall in a place which is west of him.

I hope, now you understand that there is no such non-moving plane with respect earth. If and only if a plane is always seen above our head, we can call it as a non- moving plane, like a bird sitting on the top of a lengthy pole. On all other occasions it is moving with respect to us.

Board on any plane moving toward west and see the earth moving under you in the opposite direction; wait for one day and land where you boarded on the plane.

Answer 4

althoug it would still take energy to achieve the speed of a nonmoving plane, the greater problem is the ther is no non-moving place in the universe.

but if you ever did achiev a state of perftct positional knowledge as well as awareness of your speed, your mass would become so uncertain that you could never keep a boyfriend..

Answer 5

LOL. That's impossible. The earth is still pulling you along with it.
On a related note, the reason why westbound flights take longer than eastbound flights also has nothing to do with the earth's rotation (it is a common mistake). It is because the west to east jet streams slow the plane down on the westward trip.

Answer 6

The only way it can work is if you are not moving relative to the position you started from - which means that you have to move east with respect to the ground. The speed that you have to move at is equal to the rotational speed of the earth at the place that you started from. This is equal to approximately 1000 cos(latitude) mph. your destination must also be at the same latitude as you start from. Probably if it was easier or cheaper to travel this way the airlines would already be using it.
Cheers

Answer 7

Not possible with an airplane, because what keeps an airplane in the air is its speed. However, if you were sitting on a Geo-stationary satellite (that is above the earth's atmosphere) you could probably choose where you wanted to jump off. Do be careful though.

Answer 8

Not exactly, because the plane would have to be moving at the same speed we are for us to be able to get on it. Then the plane would have to slow down to be not moving, with respect to our starting point. Slowing down is acceleration, just like speeding up is, and it requires energy, so while you feel clever for thinking of this idea, you would still need to expend the same amount of energy/fuel to slow yourself down to a stop and then speed yourself back up to earth speed so you could get off at your destination.

Answer 9

No. Because the air around the plane is moving. Spacecraft make use of the spinning Earth to get a boost in velocity when they take off.

Answer 10

I think yes my friend!
I have the idea as you!
if our nonmoving plane has no relation with the earth, perfectly independant from any earth's mouvement.
i think we should think in this way , we can reserve like this enornous quantity of Pretole! ;)

Answer 11

No, the earth would pull you with it by virtue of the atmosphere air mass is moving with the earth. Nice idea, but not workable. Even in space, it would not work due to effects of gravity.