Thread: timetravel around the earth

Earth is spinning at about 1038 mph at the Equator.World fastest plane can go about 4500 mph but lets take speed of about 4000 mph.If we wanna subtrackt 24 hrs we need to go W to E.So we need to take 1038 out of 4000 which is 2962 mph.
Earth equator lenght is 24901.5 miles.You would come back to same point in about 8.4 hrs.So would you come back 15.6 hrs earlier?

Your 4000 mph is relative to the surface of the Earth. This invalidates the rest of your calculation.

so what would be the speed then?

Originally Posted by blaster

Earth is spinning at about 1038 mph at the Equator.World fastest plane can go about 4500 mph but lets take speed of about 4000 mph.If we wanna subtrackt 24 hrs we need to go W to E.So we need to take 1038 out of 4000 which is 2962 mph.
Earth equator lenght is 24901.5 miles.You would come back to same point in about 8.4 hrs.So would you come back 15.6 hrs earlier?

No. You would come back 8.4 hours later. At some point (over the Western pacific, I believe?) you will transfer from GMT-x timezones to GMT+x timezones, upon which your local time moves forwards 24 hours. Viewing your local time relative to the time zone you start in, you are moving into the past, then take a sudden leap into the future, and then continue moving into the past.

It's also worth noting that time-zones are geopolitical, and you are not actually travelling backwards in time at all.

Originally Posted by blaster

so what would be the speed then?

Relative to whom or what? Without a reference frame to which the speed is relative, it sounds like you're asking, "What's the difference between a duck?"