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  1. What about the supposed aiming modifications when firing a weapon? According to my research, when firing a weapon you are supposed to aim a little to the right when firing northwards and to the left when southwards. This is supposed due to the rotation of the earth. If that is so, it means that the moment the bullet leaves the gun it no longer moves according to the rotation of the earth.

  2. By logic and common sense, the same behavior must be expected when planes leave Earth. Does Earth rotation effect planes?

Qmechanic
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William Harrison
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  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gNkgj9h2oM – manshu Dec 30 '15 at 13:08
  • If you claim the discovery that the Earth cannot be spinning, with planes as a proof, be ready to share the Nobel prize with a Saudi cleric. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2015/02/16/Saudi-cleric-Sun-revolves-around-stationary-Earth.html http://english.alarabiya.net/en/webtv/reports/2015/02/16/Saudi-cleric-rejects-that-Earth-revolves-around-the-Sun.html – Luboš Motl Dec 30 '15 at 13:15
  • ...the moment the bullet leaves the gun it no longer moves [with] the earth. OK, put your gun on the equator, and point it north. The gun is whizzing eastward at slightly more than a thousand miles per hour. The moment the bullet leaves the gun, it's velocity still will have that same thousand mile per hour eastward component. But, as it travels northward, the rotational speed of the ground underneath it will gradually become less while the eastward component of the bullet velocity remains the same (assuming no atmosphere to complicate things). That's the "Coriolis effect" – Solomon Slow Dec 30 '15 at 16:26

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The effect you describe is known as the Coriolis effect. Actually, a projectile will appear to veer to the right (on the Northern hemisphere) regardless of the direction in which it is fired - North or South - so your initial statement of the problem is wrong.

As for planes, they move relative to the air; so while there is a nominal Coriolis effect, it can safely be ignored; the motion of the air (which can move at over 100 mph in the jet stream) dominates the corrections you have to make.

Floris
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