Poser...
For my myriad of friends who are into math and physics (and rocket science) -
A US Air Force C-5 Galaxy has a cargo bay of 121 ft., easily enough distance for two guys to play a reasonable game of catch with a baseball. So...
The plane is cruising at 500 mph (little slower than average).
Bob is at the tail end of the hold, and throws the ball at 60 mph to Ted in the front end.
Ted's return throw is also at 60 mph.
How fast is the ball really traveling?
I really want to know... and ya' gotta' give me some explanations.
posted by Roger C. @ 8/17/2007 12:40:00 PM
2 Comments:
It depends. It's all relative. (Thanks, Albert.) To someone on the ground, the forward-flying baseball would be moving 60 mph FASTER than the aircraft, or 560 mph. Similarly, the backwards flying ball would appear to be going 60 mph SLOWER than the aircraft, but still moving in the direction of the plane at 440 mph.
To the men INSIDE of the jet, they don't sense the forward motion. They and the plane move together at 500. To them, the floor of the plane is stationary, so their throws back and forth move, to them, at 60 mph both ways.
Plus. it's kind of a trick question. No one on the ground could see the baseball anyway. They'd just see one big-ass jet.
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The REAL question is this: If this C5 leaves New York flying west at 500 mph and another C5 leaves Hawaii at the same time, does the pilot of the Hawaiian C5 even like baseball?
The question is simple to understand when you consider that we're all standing on the Earth while it's blasting through space around the Sun (just as the guys are standing on the cabin floor of the C5), and we can play catch on Earth regardless of which way we throw the ball relative to the direction of orbital motion...or of the Earth's rotation...or of the Solar System's motion orbiting the galactic center of mass, or of the Milky Way's motion relative to other galaxies in the neighborhood...or of the fact that dark energy is moving every point in space farther away from every other point in space every moment.
Stand truly still in the Universe and tell me NOW how fast is the damned baseball going?!!?!
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