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Bonneville865 t1_jefrwt9 wrote

Reply to comment by Alternative_Bar_6441 in ELI5 Why when we jump in the air the earth doesnt move by Alternative_Bar_6441

Not really, for the same reason that if you throw a baseball into the air inside a car, the baseball doesn’t land behind you, in the spot where it left your hand.

You, like the baseball, have forward momentum in the direction the earth is moving. You aren’t actually jumping straight up; you’re jumping forward at about 1,000 miles per hour. It just feels like straight up because everything else is also moving at the speed of the earth’s rotation.

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Alternative_Bar_6441 OP t1_jefsdf1 wrote

So everything we have been taught about jumping is a lie,is it just forward momentum?

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PM_ur_Rump t1_jeft0tg wrote

No. You are jumping up, but also moving sideways at a speed basically equal relative to the Earth's rotation.

You are already moving at that speed, as is everything around you, including the air (assuming no wind), so from your perspective, all the motion is up/down.

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