how much time does it take to fly from South pole to North pole?
2007-11-07 09:18:57 · 4 answers · asked by Alexander 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
This is a loxodrome, not a great circle. The distance travelled is 1/Cos(45°) = √2 greater than the great circle distance between the poles, or about 28,336 km, so it'll take 28.336 hours.
As for welcome news' advice, just have the airplane start a foot north from the south pole.
2007-11-07 10:32:25 · answer #1 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
You don't have to do anything special at the poles except prepare for some very (infinitely) tight turns. Per the ref., page 354, there are an infinite number of spirals at the poles but the path length is finite. Eq. 4 of the ref. says distance = R(latitude2-latitude1)*secant(bearing) = (in this case) great circle/cos(45 deg) as the previous answer says.
2007-11-08 02:03:09 · answer #2 · answered by kirchwey 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It can't. If you travel from the South Pole you must travel due north!
2007-11-07 09:23:19 · answer #3 · answered by welcome news 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The path is a great (semi) circle which ever direction it flies, so the distance is half hte circumference of the earth.
Time = π*6400 / 1000
= 6.4π = 20.1 hours
2007-11-07 09:24:27 · answer #4 · answered by Dr D 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋