Why doesn't a helicopter hovering for 12 hours land half way around the globe?
If a helicopter hovers over the ground for 12 hours why doesn't it land half way around the world? I saw this on a meme that was poking fun at the flat earthers, and I believe in a round Earth. But the question seems legit. Why wouldn't a helicopter that is hovering for several hours not land miles away...
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answers:
quantumclaustrophobe say: Because the atmosphere moves (more or less) at the same speed as the surface. Otherwise - we'd be subjected to 1,000mph winds - and, you don't want to fly helicopters in high winds.
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Tom say: Because it is still traveling hundreds of miles per hour in the rotation direction, from when it was sitting on the ground ON the rotating Earth--- and within the air being carried along too.
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D g say: The helicoptor while sitting on the ground is going as fast as the ground is ...when it takes off it travels straight up from the ground but is still moving the same speed as the ground
Think of you on the train andvyou toss a ball straight up it comes straight down as you see it ..
But someone watching from outside the train sees it movevin an arc the speed of the train
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Ronald 7 say: Because hovering means remaining at the one spot over the Earth's Surface
Otherwise it would be traveling
Do you understand Basketball ??
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Tom S say: Inertia.
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William say: Because it is bound by the gravitational field of the Earth.
Centrifugal forces are, however, significant. In rocketry, the Kennedy Space Center is located at a point in the US as close as possible to the equator. It requires a little less force because the Earth's rotation. That is also why Jules Verne, in the 19th century, accurately predicted Americans would send the first men to the Moon from a site on the east coast of Florida.
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hoarseman say: If you were in a carriage of a fast moving train and jumped vertically into the air -- would you expect to land several yards away?
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nineteenthly say: Because it has roughly the same momentum as the surface it rose from.
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Jeffrey K say: You are forgetting Newton's 1st law of motion: an object in motion remains in motion. When the helicopter is on the ground, it is moving with the earth. When it lifts up, it is still moving with the earth. It does not become motionless.
When you are in a plane going 500 mph and you jump up in the aisle, you don't get slammed into the back of the plane at 500 mph, do you?
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Raymond say: Because a hovering helicopter is sitting (no lateral movement) in a mass of air that is entrained by Earth's rotation and follows (more or less) the movement of the surface.
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Fred say: It is exactly like a hot air balloon and is contained by the air moving with the earth. Why would the Earth's atmosphere be stationary and not be moving with the Earth's surface?
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Who say: why should it?
its on the ground so its moving in the same direction (a) as the earth and with the same speed (b)
It goes up into the air -
why should either (a) or (b) change?
(neutons laws?)
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Kieth say: All answers are wrong, the helicopter stays in one place because it has a pilot controlling it. Left, right, forward, backward, up, down, constantly being corrected by the pilot.
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CarolOklaNola say: Because the helicopter on the ground is moving at the same speed and direction and momentum as the ground it keeps that speed and direction as it goes vertical. Yes , the air has velocity and acceleration and turbulence too. The ground and the helicopter move together even though they are not connected to each other, because of inertia.
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Robert say: Because the earth's magnetic field pulls the helicopter with it.
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Choose a bloody best answer. It's not hard. say: Serious? For the same reason that you jump while standing on a moving train and don't hit the back of the carriage before landing.
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PhotonX say:
.
.
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Nyx say: If indeed the helicopter could hover in just one place, after a few minutes it would be out of Earth's atmosphere.
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roger say: Because it is travelling with the wind.
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