Does the Earth's rotation factor into flight time?
No, the rotation of the Earth does not have any direct impact on the amount of travel time. Let me explain it like this, the earth rotates at a speed of 1600km/hr. You, and everybody else on this earth, are also moving at a speed of 1600km/hr. But why don't we feel it? This is because we don't experience absolute speed (speed through space), we experience relative speed. Relative speed is the amount of speed with respect to another object (can be moving or stationary). So our relative speed with respect to the Earth is 0km/hr. Hence, it feels like we're stationary. Now say that you start walking at a speed of 10km/hr in the direction of the earth's rotation. Your speed relative to the earth is 10km/hr. But your absolute speed is 1600km/hr + 10km/hr = 1610km/hr. What if you're walking in the direction opposite to the earth's rotation? Your relative speed remains 10km/hr but your absolute speed would be 1600km/hr - 10km/hr = 1590km/hr. This means that the rotation of the earth isn't effecting your walking speed. Suppose you jump at the same spot. Would you land at the same spot? Definitely yes. Because while you were in the air, the earth moved itself and you, so you land back at the same spot. This means that the earth imparts it's speed to you.Similarly, for an airplane, the same logic applies. Ignoring the presence of winds, the speed of the aircraft relative to the earth will remain unchanged. It gets "cancelled out". But it's speed through space will change. In other words, the speed of the earth is imparted to the airplane and it thus has no effect on the flight time. What affects the travel time are winds. Winds are caused by varying atmospheric pressure across the surface of the earth. So, on a flight from Vancouver to Delhi, eastward, the time taken is relatively shorter than a flight from Delhi to Vancouver, westward. (Northern Hemisphere).However, there is something known as "Coriolis effect". Coriolis effect is caused by the rotation of the earth. This is a factor which comes into play when considering the direction of winds. If you've ever watched weather reports, all those swirls of lines are largely determined by coriolis effect. I wouldn't go into detail about the coriolis effect but all you need to know is that it deflects winds to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. This causes the "swirling motion" in water and air. This influences the path taken by pilots for their journey.
Why doesn't an airplane traveling in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation move faster than one traveling in the same direction of the Earth's rotation?
Contrary to what everyone else is saying, it does take longer to fly east that it does to fly west.Its called the Coriolis effect, and it only applies to rotating reference frames.This is why examples of driving in a car and tossing a ball, or walking the length of a ship while its underway, dont apply. Those aren't rotating reference bodies.The air mass of the atmosphere does spin in relative synch with the earth, which is why your airspeed doesn't register differently, but it has nothing to do with the length of the trip.Ignoring things like the jet stream and assuming you were flying in a perfectly static air mass, a trip from NY to LA would take less time than the return trip from LA to NYC if the pilot were flying the same airspeed. But the ground speed will be different in those cases.When you fly west from NYC, LA is physically getting closer to you due to the rotation of the earth while you are in the air. The reverse is true flying east. NYC is constantly moving away from you while you are en route to it.The reason you dont notice is that the pilots have a schedule to keep and a flight plan to stay on. If its supposed to take them 4 hours each way, they adjust the speed of the plane so they get there in 4 hours. They do this because gates have to be empty and waiting, air traffic control is expecting you at a certain time, you have to meet other connecting flights……ect.Compound this in the real world with things like moving air masses and the jet stream, which over N America can sometimes make it faster to fly east ( or much more fuel efficient) and the effect of the Coriolis force is lost in the noise. But it is still there and very real.So real in fact that snipers have to account for it when taking long shots. A sniper shooting while facing N, E, S or W has to account for the fact that the target will have moved several feet due to the spinning of the earth during the few seconds the bullet is in the air. A few feet is not much, but its enough to make you miss if you dont factor it in.
PHYSICS QUESTION! (finding the magnitude and direction of an object)?
Since you are looking for a final direction due north and your wind vector is due west (FROM the east) you are working with a right triangle (90 degrees.) You need to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle with a vertical of 500 km/h north and a base of 90 km/h west. The length can be found using the Pythagorean Theorem and the direction can be found by using trig functions. EDIT: If you don't understand how finding the hypotenuse will help, you need to analyze the question and reread the chapter on vectors. Remember that your angle is a COMPASS READING (something between east and north.) .
For a flight going from the United States to China or Japan, why would an airline choose the long route over Europe and the Middle East instead of going over the Pacific Ocean?
John Cheshire's answer to this was really good. Also, there are other considerations such as fuel, food, duration of a single flight, etc. The ocean is a death trap for downed planes, so better the less time you fly over it. But I would speculate that the number 1 reason for an airline NOT to do a direct route as you suggest: it's not profitable enough.As a civilian contractor working in Afghanistan, I used to fly direct routes between Dubai (U.A.E.) and either Washington-Dulles (United) or Atlanta International (Delta). Those routes were flown by Boeing 777-300s with seating at around 450 passengers. Economy tickets were usually around 1900 USD months in advance and I never saw an empty seat on those flights, except occasionally in first class. Between rising ticket costs as the plane fills up, luggage fees, and the cost of higher class seats, let's assume that the average price per passenger on those flights was only 2200 USD. That's nearly a million dollars per flight, and they were flying it both ways, seven days a week, for almost $14 million a week on a single route.How could they possibly fill all those flights? Mostly because of U.S. contractors working in the Middle East, because the majority of us flew through Dubai. The demand for a full-time direct route was there, so the airlines supplied one. Airlines (just like any other company) will give people what they want to the extent that profit is maximized. If there are no direct routes from the U.S. to Asia, then I suggest that it's because it's not profitable.Also, there are direct routes. I'm on Skyscanner right now looking at a Non-Stop flight from New York to Hong Kong on American Airlines, round-trip for 3982 USD, last minute, with a stop in Johannesburg on the way back.Los Angeles to Tokyo, same story. Non-stop outbound, 1 stop in Singapore on the return. Last minute round-trip for 1248 USD. Maybe those Americans whom you met are just finding cheaper flights with more connections.
Physics Homework. Projectile Motion?
you can always find the time of flight by writing the equation of motion in the y direction: y(t) = initial value of y + initial y velocity x time - 1/2 gt^2 y(t) = y0 + v0 sin(theta) t - 1/2 gt^2 if you set y=0 and solve the resulting quadratic, you will get the time t if the projectile lands at the same level it launched, you can find the time of flight more simply from 2v0sin(theta)/g once you have the time of flight, multiply by the horizontal velocity, v0cos(theta) to find the horizontal distance traveled remember that the horizontal velocity stays constant since there are no horizontal forces acting (if you ignore friction) finally, if the object lands at the same level it launched, you can use the range equation R = v0^2 sin(2 theta)/g where v0 is the initial launch speed, theta is the angle of launch and g is the accel due to grav
Physics question about a tennis ball's velocity ?
a. The ball simply falls a distance 0.75 m. s = (1/2)gt^2 s = 0.75m g = 9.8 m/s^2 0.75 = (1/2)(9.8)t^2 t = SQRT[1.5/9.8] = SQRT[0.15306] t = 0.391 seconds b. The ball rolls off the table so it only has a horizontal velocity component as it leaves the table. It then hits the floor 1.4 meters from the table edge. It does this 0.391 seconds after leaving the table. speed = distance/time = 1.4/0.391 speed =3.578 m/s c. The horizontal component we just found in part (b). We just need to find the vertical component and this is due to gravity. v = g*t = 9.8(0.391) = 3.834 m/s magnitude = SQRT[(3.834)^2 + (3.578)^2] magnitude = SQRT[27.502] magnitude = 5.244 m/s The direction relative to the floor will be: tan(Angle) = (vertical component)/(horizontal component) tan(Angle) = 3.578/3.834 = 0.93321 Angle = 43.021 degrees
Physics 2D motion question.?
A juggler throws a ball with an initial horizontal velocity of +1.1 m/s and an initial vertical velocity of +5.7 m/s. What is its acceleration at the top of its flight path? Make sure to consider the sign when responding. Consider the upward direction as positive. The answer is -9.8ms^2 But why????? I thought the acceleration is -9.8 only for freefall
If the earth is round, why does a flight from Japan to the USA take 12 hours?
A result of some quick google searches:-Delhi, India to San Francisco, USA takes ~15 hours-Tokyo, Japan to San Francisco, USA takes only ~9 hoursIf the earth were flat and not spherical and we had to fly in the west direction from the eastern countries, the latter flight should’ve taken much more time than the former flight, whereas it is the opposite.When even non stop domestic flights in the US from Seattle WA to Miami, FL can take almost 6 hours, why is it not okay to take 9 hours to cover the massive Pacific Ocean?Bonus fact: One of the eastern ends of Russia and western ends of Alaska are separated by the Bering Strait and the distance is merely ~55 miles! If one flew a chopper over that distance, it should be done in half an hour I think.