Guest hotdog_20080214 Posted September 1, 2003 Share Posted September 1, 2003 Hey i have a quick question um On most maps the shortest distance form rome italy to new your city appears to be a stright line accrost. how ever this is not the shortest distance the shortest distance is through the middle of france over the north alatnic past newfoundland through novis socia and then to new york. Why is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafalone Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 The shortest distance between two points is a straight line *in all 3 dimensions*. Due to the curvature of the Earth, it is not possible to travel in a straight line across large distance, and it becomes shorter to travel along a curved path to reduce the distance caused by Earth's curve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaKiri Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 *in 4 dimensions* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafalone Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 No particular time coordinate makes the trip noticeably shorter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudde Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 sleep time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skye Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 The lines planned try to conform to the path a line tracing the circumferance of the earth that touches both points (departure and destination). This is the 'flattest' path, any other path would travel along an arc with a shorter radius, which is more curved. There are always two of these paths, one to the left and one to the right, which gives some flexibility to avoid certain airspace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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