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Possible Duplicate:
Why does the atmosphere rotate along with the earth?

If i take off from land on a helicopter straight above the earth surface to a certain height and stay there for few mins/hours and come down. Why am i coming down to the same place where i took off? If the earth is rotating i should land on a different place right because i have not moved i am just coming down straight.I moved only vertically.

I got this thought because i was thinking why are we spending so many hours on flights to reach a country on west if i started from a eastern country.

May be there are a lot of scientific reasons behind this which i am not aware excuse me if it sounds silly.I thought this would be the best place to ask.

Qmechanic
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OpenBook
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1 Answers1

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The helicopter in your example would have some velocity given to it by the Earth. I believe atmospheric drag would play a significant role in this, but let's ignore that for now.

You may have heard the process of an orbit described as continuous free fall, where you fall "towards" the other body just as fast as you move along the orbit. If this hypothetical helicopter lifted off, it would just be orbiting the planet!

James G
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