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[MeCon]

Very Various, Very Sundry

[tygr20]

Re: Very Various, Very Sundry

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Unless there's some kind of a trick to the question...

It'd be the latter.


Now, The airplane on the treadmill...

That's another question

[rowan]

wouldn't it depend on what the helicopter was using as a point of reference to stay still? not that i'm a helicopter pilot, but i do believe that i've read/watched/learned somewhere that they something to focus on to make sure that they keep the copter at a fixed point (that is, it's not like they have a button that just goes straight up X feet with no other movement). if they were using the aircraft carrier itself as a reference point to stay steady, i would guess that the helicopter would stay with the aircraft carrier. if there was another point of reference that they were using, then the aircraft carrier would move out from underneath the copter.

[thebruce]

I'd like to see experimental evidence of what would happen in this situation: a space ship - any size, but preferrably named "Enterprise" - travels a fraction slower than the speed of light; inside, the captain decides to run from one wall to another, effectively travelling faster than the speed of light. Or better, someone stands at the front of the ship in the dark, then someone shines a flashlight in his eyesfrom the back of the ship - the light would travel at light speed from the flashlight in the ship traveling at almost light speed, thus practically travelling at twice the speed of light. Would the ship explode from becoming infinitely massive? Would it turn into a black hole? Would an anomolous rift form in space/time continuum surrounding the ship?

[thebruce]

[Agent Lex]

[thebruce]

[rowan]

[thebruce]

[MeCon]

No No, its different.
The question doesnt have anything to do with the pilot. Im talking if the helicopter was just hovering there with no influence from a pilot.
you have to think about what is keeping the copter in the air. the copter is not completely independent of the carrier. Its the air that is being accelerated toward the ground(the carrier deck) and creating pressure between the copter and the deck. so the way i think of this, the copter would follow the deck because the air that is holding it in the air is pushing on the same spot on the deck and has no need to move.

An experiment that would illustrate my theory is if you have a lit candle and surround it by some type of cylinder with two open ends. if you move the cylinder side to side, the flame will move with it because of the air resistance.

Does all that make sense?

[Rogi Ocnorb]

[Agent Lex]

The air that it's pushing on doesn't move with the aircraft carrier, though. The spot that the air was previously pushing upon does move, but the same air just pushes on the new spot, and when the carrier eventually moves away it pushes on the sea.

Rogi - wouldn't the helicopter move with the surrounding air? I believe that moves with the Earth's rotation, so he would stay roughly above the same spot.

[MeCon]

Rogi, thats basically the same question; the earth being the carrier deck and the helicopter...well thats still a helicopter, but its the same question and im still not sure. would the copter move with the earth or, like you said, would it stay stationary and the earth moves under it?

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Realistically, there might be a slight ground effect that might have an impact, though it'd be impossible to measure. Height would also play a factor in that, I'd guess.

Though it's pretty easy to move a hovercraft, in flight. I'd think a 2-year-old could push one along with a single finger. But I could be wrong.