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Earth revolving

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Lorence | 14:36 Tue 25th Nov 2008 | Science
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The earth revolves and takes 24 hrs to complete a full revolution.If a helicopter took off and hovered a few feet off the ground could it travel a distance just relying on the earth's revolving movement to move the ground.
thank you for any answer to my query.
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No, for a number of reasons the primary of which is the body of air supporting the helicopter is rotating with the earth due to the viscous drag (also called Linear Velocity Dependence...)
And also, as the helicopter leaves the surface it has the same forward speed as the surface which it left. In the absence of any other force to slow it down it would continue at that speed and so stay above the same spot.
If someone jumped up and down for the day would the earth move under his feet causing him to travel all the way around the world? No
A helicopter hovering at the equator will be travelling at a speed of approximately 1000mph, in an anticlockwise direction, relative to a stationary object in space. Since the atmosphere is also moving at 1000mph, in the same direction, the relative speed of the helicopter is zero with respect to the surface of the Earth.
New Judge makes a very good point. The argument also applies in the absence of an atmosphere, for example above the surface of the Moon. However the helicopter wouldn't work!
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Thanks to everyone who answered , fully satisfied with the response.

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