If a stone is dropped from a balloon on a still day, does the stone fall directly below the balloon, or to the west or east of it?

(In reply to Relativity by brianjn)

But you're forgetting that, in this "closed system", the Earth is turning, the balloon is falling (in "orbit") and both are experiencing acceleration due to their angular velocities. If they're experiencing forces (gravity) then we can't just picture them as being entirely motionless with no forces acting on them.

Posted by Sam on 2005-07-08 10:48:01