Posted on 02/05/2005 3:15:15 PM PST by Indy Pendance
Edited on 02/05/2005 3:17:49 PM PST by Lead Moderator. [history]
The coolest spy plane ever built, SR-71. I was watching Modern Marvels on the History channel last night. This aircraft broke all kinds of international speed and altitude records which still have not been beaten today. It was nothing for them to fly at 80,000 feet and it was a piece of cake to fly at about mach 3, or about 2100 mph. For those of you old enough, remember the sonic boom days? About 750 miles would create a sonic boom, or a doppler effect.
Here's the question, this plane was so fast, it was faster than the earth's rotation. What would happen with time over a long sustainable period of flying time? If it goes faster than the earth's rotation long enough, will it be ahead of time when it lands, or likewise in the opposite direction, will it go back in time. Do you think Einstein has an answer? Saturday night ponderings.
There are different fields of engineering.
And what field are you in?
Ugh - that kind of attitude we'll get lose a city next time. Sounds like the Clinton Doctrine.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
It wasn't the SR-71 that launched the D-21 drones. A variant of the A-12 and later C-130s launched them. One of the drones went astray over China and ended up crashing in Russia. Kelly Johnson later visited Russia and was shown the remains of this stray D-21. The Russians had examined the drone in great detail and produced their own copy based on the 'gifted' technology.
Yep, the Black bird was started by Buick V-8's.
My degree's in chemical engineering, though my job is more in the environmental discipline. Really though, we are talking junior-high physical science, here; relativistic effects are going to be negligible at any plane's speed, and the Earth's rotation is irrelevant.
Think U-2S and RQ-4A/B.
The relativistic affect you mention is always "forward," regardless of direction of travel. All that happens is that, while traveling fast, you percieve time to be passing at a different rate than someone who is not traveling as fast (relative to some common reference point).
As to whether or not there is a relativistic effect, yes, there is. But it's so small that it would be virtually impossible to detect. Think about the relativistic effect of walking to the bathroom in your home. That is far closer to the effect on the pilot of an SR-71 than anything that would have Einseinian affects.
I'm trying to present the discussion to a general knowledge base. Sheesh, lighten up sherlock.
"Only one SR-71 crashed, at Edwards..."
FWIW, in the early 70's we were getting ready to fly a mission out of Okinawa, but had to go back into crew rest because an SR-71 came in for a landing and ran off the runway. I don't know how much damage was caused, but it was enough to get everyone's attention.
rankor rancor
The Russians still use the reconnaissance variant of the MiG-25 FOXBAT. A variant of the plane (E-266) still holds the absolute height record set during 1973.
I have a friend who is a chem e, designs candy. Kind of a cool job, when you think about it. Not everyone has our knowledge of physics. And not everyone had basic junior high science, especially today. It's an interesting question, the ad homonyms are better off on an evo or illegal immigration thread. We're trying to dig into the mysteries of life.
I keep looking for a "whiter shade of pale". ;)
Isn't the one on the intrepid an early model, or a trainer?
LOL, see how easy it is?
I would think that time is a constant and it cannot be changed.
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