North Pole
How can a plane that takes off from the North Pole land in a city at the equator?
This question puzzles me… Because the Earth is round and is spinning, someone standing at the North Pole is actually moving 1000 mph slower than someone standing at the equator even though both are standing still relative to the Earth. This is because it takes a 24 hrs to do one revolution and one revolution is 24,000 miles more at the equator than at the North Pole ( 1ft / 24 hrs ~ 0 mph but 24,000 miles / 24 hrs = 1000 mph). So how can a passenger jet, which can’t travel faster than roughly 600 mph, not counting the Concorde, that takes off from the North Pole, or South Pole, catch up and land on a runway that is traveling at 1000 mph?
There are a couple problems in your assumption. First you’re assuming the plane flies in a straight line to the city. It can easily fly ahead of the city so that it gets there at the same time as the city.
There is a problem with this as well. This would be assuming that there are no external forces on the plane. Air rotates with the earth as well due to gravity, inertia and other forces. Therefore as the plane flies south it would also pick up a velocity in the direction the earth is rotating.
It is basically a difference between ideal physics, no wind resistance, not external forces other than gravity, and real life physics where all these things affect what’s going on.
Finally thre is a frame of reference issue here. You say a plane only flies about 600 mph. This is relative to how fast the earth is moving. Think of running on a treadmill. If the treadmill is moving at 15 mph and you’re keeping up you feel like you’re moving 15mph but to someone standing on the side you’re not moving at all. The opposite is also true. Run with a moving walkway like at airports and you’re moving faster than the walkway so you seem to be moving slightly faster than the people standing still on it. But to a person standing still off the walkway you’re moving as fast as you’re running plus the speed of the walkway.
Hopefully this might clear up some of it.
North Pole holiday expedition on the Nuclear Icebreaker Yamal
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Cat Studio Dish Towel – North Pole $20.00 They are delightful keepsakes for remembering the hometown you grew up in, or perhaps to commemorate your honeymoon, or some wonderful vacation spot. Great for gift giving! The Pillows, our “Grand ‘ol Dames,” are entirely hand embroidered, and can take up to one week to create. The Dish Towels are printed and framed with hand embroidery & come packaged for gifting. The Geo Totes are incredibly ver… |
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Wee Sing The Best Christmas Ever! $9.45 You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall how to have the greatest Christmas of all? With this “Wee Sing” Yuletide celebration, of course! Gather ’round the TV with your little ones and rejoice in the magic of the holiday season while singing along with some of the best-loved Christmas songs ever. 56 min. Standard; Soundtrack: Engli… |
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No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded $6.55 Japanese edition of the Led Zeppelin member’s 1994 collaboration album in a miniaturized LP sleeve. Contains 14tracks, including ‘Thank You’, ‘Friends’, ‘That’s The Way’, ‘Gallow’s Pole’ and ‘Four Sticks’. 1994 Mercury Records release. … |
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Machine Says Yes $15.98 … |
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Glory & Honor [VHS] $14.98 This moving film, originally produced for cable channel TNT, concerns the rocky collaboration of American explorer Robert Peary (Henry Czerny) and his African American valet turned adventurer, Mathew Henson (Delroy Lindo). Over many years and several costly failed attempts to reach the North Pole, Peary loses pieces of his body from frostbite and almost sacrifices his family for the sake of standi… |
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The Night They Saved Christmas [VHS] $9.98 … |
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Magnetic Pole Detector-Identifier-Tester for Magnets $16.95 How does it identify the north and south poles of a permanent magnet? Simply press and hold the black oval button. Then, place the tip of the detector near the surface of the magnet. If it is the North Pole, the Red LED will glow. It’s just that simple. And if the button is held and the unit is moved around the surface of the magnet….you ca… |
Tags: christmas, globalwarming, north, north pole, north pole alaska, north pole colorado, north pole ny, north pole tents, pole, science
This entry was posted on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.