If you were to fly a drone in the air in a stationary position for 24 hours, could the world make a full rotation underneath?
This would assume that it did not hit any mountains or obstacles in the 24 hours. Also, could you then attach a camera to see the progress?
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answers:
Andrew Smith say: Stationary RELATIVE TO WHAT????
If it was stationary relative to the sun then the earth would have moved on and it would be hundreds of thousands of km away from the earth.

If it was stationary relative to the surface of the earth then it would remain above the same point.
Although as viewed from the earth it would crash at about 6 hours.
Why? Because if it is 50 m above the earth now it might be 50 m closer to the sun.
6 hours from now at sunset 50 m closer to the sun would be at ground level 50 m to the west.
Another 6 hours later 50 m closer to the sun would be 50 m BELOW THE GROUND.
And so on.

If it was stationary relative to the air and the air was moving at an average of 20 km/hr then it would have moved 480 km relative to the surface of the earth.

If it was stationary relative to the centre of the earth then what you say would be correct.
But HOW could you achieve this.
With the air rushing past it to be stationary relative to the centre of the earth would require it to be moving a couple of thousand km/hr relative to the air around it.
And I don't know of any drone capable of flying in the air at twice the speed of sound continuously for 24 hours.
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thomas f say: That could happen at the North Pole and the South Pole. Otherwise, the others are correct.
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Philomel say: Stationary with respect to what?
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Bill say: The drone would have to have enough batteries or fuel to stay in the air for 24 hours. That might be possible; a solar powered plane flew around the world. But it didn't make the trip in 24 hours.
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oldprof say: No. Think about it. When it's in a stationary position, say over Toledo, that means it stays there (stationary). So it remains over Toledo for the full 24 hours.

OK, so you didn't mean stationary over Toledo. How about stationary in space...some starting point in space that does not move. (Not clear what the reference point is to determine it's stationary, but let's ignore that issue for now.)

So you have your super drone at point p(x,y,z,t) at time t = 0. And by definition that drone is at the same spatial point p(x,y,z,t = 24) 24 hours later. What would you see?

You'd see the Earth crashing into the drone, the Earth rushing away from the drone, or the Earth flying by the drone. Why? Because the Earth is moving relative to that stationary point and the drone that's there at that point.

What you will not see is the drone staying in one spot relative to Earth.
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D g say: think of you being on the earth as you being on a train

when you toss a ball in the air stright up the ball comes straight down to your hand .. assuming no wind

this is what happens on the train too you are on a train it is moving 40 km/h past a station and a person sees you who is standing on the station

you and the ball inside the train are moving at 40km/h

you toss the ball up you see the ball go up and straight down

the person that was on the station sees the ball go up in an ARCH like you were throwing the ball infront of him to another person..

you are thinking you can be both the person on the station and the person throwing the ball at the same time you cant ..

when we are on the earth we move with it it moves at the equator about 1000 miles per hour probably a bit more Im just going by memory ..

so an object sitting on the ground is also moving that speed even if the air is calm the air is moving at that seed and the WATER around you is moving at that speed ..
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don_sv_az say: When you step outside your house do you normally feel a 800-1000 mph wind? Probably not.

Why not? Because the air/atmosphere is rotating along with the earth.
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Bill-M say: No. The Drone is moving at the same speed as the Earth is. You would have to stop the Drone's speed relative to the Earth's rotation and that can't be done without lots of power. LOTS of power.
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Robert J say: No.
The atmosphere is rotating once every 24 hours, just like the Earth. The drone would hover in the (relatively) still air, following the rotation.


The drone would have to be capable of continuously flying at 1000 miles per hour to compensate for the rotation of the Earth/atmosphere (or a bit less away from the equator) to hold a position that countered the earths rotation.
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derfram say: "Stationary" is relative. Stationary to what? If it was stationary to the Sun, yes, you would see the world turning blow you. If it was stationary to your house, then no - everything would just stand still.
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