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I just stumbled upon a video on spacetime and a weird fact caught my attention.

In the video, it explained that a free falling body dropped onto the Earth would change its orientation and would be displaced very little due to the rotation of the Earth.

Why would this happen? It may be different in Einstein's gravitational relativity theory however in classical physics shouldn't it simply fall (without any atmosphere)?

Clip of the video :https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxQN4DFgqDB6dsb4vPT2Ireqh9J7rW4gzP?si=7XlLZEiVljm6ObQe

Qmechanic
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Star Gazer
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1 Answers1

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If you stand on a high tower, the velocity on the top is greater, than at the bottom, since the angular velocity is the same. So if you drop a stone it has compared to the bottom a relativ velocity parallel to earth surface , thats why it will not fall down vertically but drift a very little in the direction of earth rotation. I don't think the video explaining is is good.

trula
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