this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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Explain Like I'm Five
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In the event you're actually asking for an explanation, since that is what this community is for:
You are correct. The Earth rotates underneath airplanes or anything else in the air. Airplane pilots navigate to airports, they don't just land where the airport was 2 hours ago. This is accounted for in flight schedules. Skydivers are only falling for about 5 minutes so the rotation underneath them is negligible. Birds, similar to pilots, just keep going until they're where they want to be.
Also, the Earth is a spheroid.
Plus, like planes, they're flying - so aiming for a target (while their lift is far less than aircraft, they do have some, and can orient and direct themselves).
They're also in the atmosphere, which is rotating with the earth (part of why there are winds).
That's just plain wrong.
Everything on earth moves with the earth's rotation because of inertia or more precisely because of conservation of angular momentum.
OP: Any object that is moving keeps moving in that direction unless some force changes that. So every plane keeps moving with the earth's rotation because it started that way. Whatever speed it picks up from its engines is in addition to that.
Tnx that makes sense
You're right, but my point was the Earth is not flat.
Sure, but the earth does not rotate underneath airplanes. Airplanes rotate with the earth.
That's why I said "you're right." No need to be a jerk
I just did guick math and it turns out in 5minutrs it should move 135km if you jump on equator.
Replying to your most recent comment. You've had a lot of explanations provided, in multiple easy to digest packages. You haven't replied to any of the answers that people spent a decent amount of time to provide you. Do you understand now and don't feel inclined to acknowledge anyone who helped you get there? Do you reject their explanations without feeling the need to respond? What's up bro
Easy dude i was thinking about the first reply and thats why i didnt read other replyes..
You're moving that fast too, you don't suddenly stop rotating with the Earth when you jump.
Wait a second, if earth is taking 24h to rotate full circle it means it moves a lot in 5 minuts its not negligible. We can do math how much it should move in meters. So lets do that.
The thing you're jumping from is moving. The air masses are moving. The earth is moving. The falling object is moving. There are several factors at play here. If you were still relative to the earth at the moment you jumped from, say a hot air balloon and the fall took you 5 minutes and you were just falling straight down then you'd miss the target by around 150 kilometers.