Question 395296


Newton's First Law of Motion: Objects at rest will remain at rest and objects in motion will remain in motion, at the same speed and direction, unless acted upon by an outside force.  Therefore, winds, even though they may be acted on by gravity, the Coriolis Force, and the pressure gradient force will tend to move in straight paths. 

Why does it take longer to fly from New York to Los Angeles than it takes to fly from Los Angeles to New York? 

Why does it take a plane longer to fly west than east?


it is because of the wind

BECAUSE - of the Jet Stream

The current of air that moves across the globe from West to East

When we fly west - it's into a headwind - and subtracted from airspeed

When we fly east - it's a tailwind - and added to our speed

as our plane flies in the envelope of air, and that's why planes land INTO the wind - so their groundspeed is slower

this is also why Wind Shear is so treacherous
when headwind - becomes tailwind - - - - -
say you plane lands at 150 mph and the stall speed is 130

wind is 15 mph - so actual ground speed is 150-15 or 135
so here we are doing '135' actual speed when the the WIND SHEARS and now the 15 mph is subtracted

135 - 15 = 120 which is no longer a flying speed - and plane crash