The planet Earth is in a constant motion, we may not notice it but the Earth rotates and moves at a speed greater than that of any commercial airplane. However, we do not perceive this movement while standing, nor when we rise to an altitude of approximately 10,000 meters above sea level, which is the average flight altitude for commercial aviation.
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An Earth in constant motion
Both the change of day and night, and the change of the seasons are phenomena caused by the movement of the Earth, which are mainly two: rotation and translation. In the rotation movement the Earth rotates on its axis at a speed of approximately 1600 km/hr, this easily doubles the speed of a Boeing 747. In translation, our planet reaches a speed of 107,280 km/hr which is 49 times faster than the supersonic Concorde aircraft. Despite the magnitude of these speeds, the movement of the Earth is imperceptible to humans.
The perception of movement is relative
The general theory of relativity teaches us that the conditions in which a viewer observes a phenomenon alters their perception of it, such is the case of humans in relation to the movement of the Earth. In our case, the conditions that most make it impossible for us to perceive the movement of our planet is our size, and also the constancy of the movement of the planet, in other words, since there is no stable deceleration or sudden braking, it will be impossible to perceive the speed of movement of the planet, in the same way as in a flight without turbulence, with standard atmospheric conditions, and with a constant speed we cannot perceive that in a Boeing 747 we are moving at more than 700 km/hr.
From the window of an airplane, can I see the Earth rotate?
A recurring question regarding the rotation of the Earth is whether this phenomenon is observable from a commercial airplane. The reasoning that gives rise to this doubt is; think that if we get high enough in a suspended object we will not be physically attached to the earth’s surface which would allow us, at least, to notice the movement of the Earth. The previous thought, although it seems logical in principle, leaves aside the fact that the Earth rotates together with its atmosphere and everything in it, air among other things and the planes in it. Therefore, in order to appreciate the movement of the Earth, it is necessary to leave our atmosphere, this is achieved by rising to about 100 km above sea level. If you want to know what it would take for a commercial airplane to get out of the atmosphere, we recommend reading Why couldn’t a commercial airplane go into space? How does an airplane engine and rockets work?
What are your thoughts on this subject? Would you like to observe the movement of the earth from outside the earth’s atmosphere?
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Image by PIRO4D via Pixabay under Creative Commons license.
