About 1,000 mph rotation speed IIRC? Those old B57 were a lot slower than that.
I had never thought about that. I have no idea what the figures are but it obviously works.
That just got me to thinking. Why does a plane gain any ground at all at any speed below 1000+ MPH? I guess the atmosphere around the earth moves along with the rotation or otherwise we would be subject to 1000 mph winds all the time.
“Assume a frictionless surface.....”
About 1,000 mph rotation speed IIRC? Those old B57 were a lot slower than that.
http://eclipse2017.org/blog/2016/11/27/how-fast-is-the-shadow-moving-across-the-us-during-the-eclipse/ says that the speed varies between 1462 and 2410 mph (slower in the middle because the ground is horizontal relative to the shadow). An SR-71 could keep up with the shadow while the WB-57 will just extend the eclipse some.
I think it's closer to 900 mph at the equator, and of course slower as one moves towards the poles.
In any case, in order to keep up with a ground point on the equator from a high altitude, one would have to travel a good deal faster than the 900 mph speed the ground is moving since they'd be at a greater radius from the center of the planet's rotation.
Same principle as for the earth's equator rotating faster than latitudes north and south of it, the circumference along the equator being larger than at those other latitudes. All points, regardless of latitude, take 24 hours to rotate once around. And when the circumference is smaller the rotational rate is slower, and faster when the circumference is larger. ie, a point along a relatively tiny 10ft-radius circle centered on the earth's north or south rotational point would still take 24 hours to revolve once.