According to our daily life experience, since the earth has been spinning at high speed, if the helicopter hovers in the air and does not move, it should indeed reach the other end of the earth in 12 hours.
But we all know that it is impossible, no matter how long it hovers in the air, it is impossible for a helicopter to reach the other end of the earth. Why is this happening?
The most important point is that we need to understand: What exactly is " hover "?
If you just parked in the air and remained motionless, of course it would not be possible to reach the other end of the earth, because the helicopter parked in the air is actually spinning at high speed with the earth and running wildly with the earth. If we were in space, we would have a more intuitive feeling, which was equivalent to watching the earth and helicopters from the perspective of God.
In real life, we can really watch from the perspective of God, just keep shrinking the earth and the helicopter.
Earth can be compared to a car traveling at a constant speed, while a helicopter is equivalent to a mosquito in a car. When a mosquito hoveres in a car, no matter how fast the car is, the speed of the mosquito in the car will not change at all.
can use a way to make the helicopter really hung in the air. Suppose there is an extremely huge crane that can lift the helicopter to stay still, just like in the picture, while the earth still remains rotating. In this way, the helicopter can really reach the other end of the earth after 12 hours.
But this will lead to a fatal problem. Because the helicopter is very fast relative to the earth, reaching nearly 500 meters per second, which is about 1,700 kilometers per hour, this speed is faster than the most violent typhoon , and the helicopter has long been blown away!
. To achieve the above true hover, there is a way to achieve it.
Because the earth rotates from west to east, the helicopter must fly in the opposite direction, that is, move from east to west, and the speed is consistent with the rotation speed of the earth. The speed reaches 1,700 kilometers per hour. If you fly for 12 hours, you can reach the other end of the earth.
You will definitely question: If it were this way of flying, you could reach the other end of the earth in 12 hours, what is the meaning of this hovering method?
is actually like this, and it can only be done. To hover at its original position, you must "overcome" the relative speed formed by the earth's rotation process.
In fact, this is also a direct reflection of 's relative movement . It depends mainly on what form of hover you want.
Finally, it is meaningful to hover with a suitable reference system , which means "what do you want the helicopter to hover relative to?"
"hover" without a reference system is meaningless!
