Posted on 04/16/2014 7:57:14 AM PDT by doug from upland
So the real answer is; if you were to take off at 6 in the morning after sun up and land at 6 in the evening before sun down, you would have 36 hours to transverse 24000 miles. so you would have to go 666MPH.
“...so that it never saw the sun set...”
That is correct. You would take off just after sunup and land 36 hours later just before sun down the following day...
Altitude the plane is at, direction of flight (must be east-to-west!), and - above all! - remember that is average airplane speed. Slow down for refueling, speed up for normal flight at most economical (most efficient altitude and fuel consumption), slow down to refuel again, speed back to most economical conditions. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Or you could walk around.
A fit, motivated male (or an ugly male following a fit and motivated young female) can walk at 3 mph steadily for 24 hours. (Don't ask him (or her) to do it again the next day!)
In 24 hours, you can go 72 miles. A circle of diameter 22.93 miles.
Go to the south pole at either equinox. Walk north 11.46 miles, then turn left to put the sun on your right shoulder at noon and keep walking. 24 hours later, you are back at the same spot, having walked around the world.
the sun will still be on your right shoulder, you will be very sunburned on half of your exposed flesh - if any - and you will be very tired. Hungry.
For planes, you could do the average B-52, C-5B, B-1, B-2, KC-135, KC-10, 757SP or 747 Long Range to play the "how far at how fast for how long" game. Then find the latitude matching that altitude and speed for a continuous or refueled flight. It's be fun to see if a commercial long range cargo jet could stay up for 24 hours.
All of that breaks the “at the equator” game .. but the best answer is the 36 hours allowable time for “never seeing the sun set” ...
And, the KC-135Q can go .8+ Mach. You could find the headwinds a slight problem, but there are the doldrum latitudes to keep in mind.
What makes the ocean's tides?
What makes the Moon-face toward the Earth constant?
I think Earth's rotation is caused by the moon's pull on Earth's oceans.
The sun never sets on the British Empire.
Hmmmn. And “never see the sun set” actually goes a bit further than 24 hours ...
Even more than the 36 hour (sunrise to sunset) by flying east-to-west written above.
So, take off at the equator flying west just AFTER sunset on the equinox at just under Mach 1, fly west until the sun overtakes you once and begins to set in your face => 47.9 hours later!
That would require “only” 24,000 miles / 48 hours = 500 mph. Which is doable with refueling and today’s technology and planes.
If I can assume infinite fuel, then I am assuming infinite speed as well.
Break one law of physics, break them all.
:-)
If you head north or south to the 61st parallel, you'd only need to fly at 500 mph. In a B777-LR, you could make it most of the way around. That airplane has a range of 10,793 miles. The 61st parallels have a circumference of 12,072 miles.
Even at lower latitudes, e.g., flying west to Denver, it can take a long time for the sun to set.
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