Recent content by mlipscombmtl

Ok, but just to clarify, you said "The key idea here is that for all intents and purposes we can consider the Earth as stationary unless you want to talk about getting into orbit or about other astronomically relevant effects." I took this to mean that once you leave the Earth's orbit, then...

Pardon me if my response seems stupid then, but what you're saying is that if on it's way back from point B my plane left our atmosphere, then the Earth would spin 1000/mph underneath it and thereby decrease the distance needed to return to point A?

The air moves with the earth...? Really? What about when you're going against this movement of the air/earth, then wouldn't it be safe to assume that the movement of the Earth and air would move counter to the air plane shortening it's distance back to point A?

Ok, great, but I"m not sure I understand the implications of your answer. So if on the way back momentum is quite obviously not a factor, then the Earth's spin should shorten the distance and the traveling time by a lot. But it doesn't. Why?

It would seem to me that if you fly from point a to point b following the rotation of the earth, you'd have to go faster than this rotation to move forward. For example, if the Earth spins at 1,040/mph, then wouldn't a plane have to go faster than this just to escape the spin of the earth? I get...