the earth rotates, but when you are in the air, you rotate with the earth, how does this work?

68 viewsOtherPhysics

the earth rotates, but when you are in the air, you rotate with the earth, how does this work?

In: Physics

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You don’t rotate with the earth, instead you continue on a straight path, and accelerate downward due to gravity.

It’s just that, for short distances, earth surface can be approximated as flat, and rotation along this surface is not that different from a straight line.

But for long distance, this approximation does not hold. If you fire an artillery shell, the shell follows a parabolic path, but the target does not move on a straight line during the flight time. This will end up having an effect over long distances, so you actually need to account for earth rotation.

You are viewing 1 out of 10 answers, click here to view all answers.