Why can i play catch on a train going at 100mph ?
 

Why can i throw a ball the opposite way the train is traveling when moving 100mph in the other direction ?

Or cant you ?

Surely i would need to be able to throw a ball over 100mph in the oposite direction for it to go anywhere?

Im confused. someone tell me.

hmm can someone explain to me in a coupe sentences :D ?

Also can a plane take off from a conveyer belt going the same speed backwards as the plane moves forwards?

You have to be stoned, if so, can I have some?

The train is sealed enough that most outside variables don't affect the internal actions.

hahahah. Im actually not.

It is defiantly a topic one would ponder when stoned :D

I haven't smoked weed for a couple of years now. Maybe im having a residual stone-ism :)

but why when accelerating, it would be affected. Even though you are still in a enclosed space, so still no wind resistance etc.

StonedOne the earth rotates at 1,040 miles an hour so if you go out side and jump straight up you will land some where down the street.

So if you take a hot air balloon straight up and fight the wind to stay in the same posistion 24 hours later when you land you will have been around the whole world, why it took Phileas Fogg so long i have no idea.

No, because there's still no lift being generated by the wings.

Relative to the train, you are not moving, so you see the ball travel at 20mph for instance if you throw it. Relative to the ground, the ball is already travelling at 100mph before you throw it, so if the train is travelling away from an external observer and you throw the ball away from them, they would see it move at 120mph away from them; throw towards them and they would see it travel away from them at 80mph.

it wouldn't be affected while accelerating, since when you throw the ball the the speed of the throw is accelerating at the same rate as the train.

The ball will throw like normal and the plane will take off.

/thread

hmmmm.

If i throw a ball at 100mph out of the back of a train that is moving at 100mph in the other direction, then the ball should just fall to the floor straight down ?

Substitute the word floor with ground and you've got it.

Sweet. And the reason for that would be wind resistance of a matching 100mph? Because the same would not happen when inside the train.

Is that correct?

Mentally mark the ground (which is below the floor of the train) the moment you throw the ball. That's where the ball should land.

Why would the plane take off ? it would be stationary and therefor not get the required speed of air over the wings to produce lift?

someone told me it would. but how ? if conveyer belt is going same speed as plane.

Ok ive got that. so the reason it does not work in an enclosed space is purely because you haven't got the 100mph of wind resistance canceling out the opposite force of the throw.

ok.

You're exactly right on this matter. Some people forget that unlike cars, wheels of airplanes don't propel them.

The plane's wheels are not the driving force, the prop is, whereas the wheels are independent and will simply spin faster but it will take off all the same.

No it has nothing to do with wind resistance. Relative to the ground, the ball would either be moving 200mph if thrown to the front of the train or 0mph if thrown to the rear. On the train, the ball would appear to be moving 100mph no matter the direction.