An imprtant question for Loony BoB (and others, perhaps)

[DocFrance]

Is it quicker to reach Scotland from New Zealand by flying north, or by flying south? And what exactly was your route when making this voyage? This has been bugging me all evening, and I fear I won't get any sleep tonight unless I know the answer.

Now what do you, the member who is not Loony BoB think about this? This is a question of the utmost urgency!

[Kirobaito]

North. Duh. This would be different if Scotland was in the Southern Hemisphere or something, but it's in the northern hemisphere. In the issue of going east or west, I'm not sure. It's probably a toss-up. It would probably be safer going east, so you can make a stop in the US, instead of a Middle Eastern country.

[Dr Unne]

In Euclidean geometry, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. However Euclidean geometry doesn't apply when dealing with the surface of a sphere; Spherical geometry is non-Euclidean. The shortest distance between two points on a sphere is actually a portion of a circle called a "great circle". A great circle is the circle which results from the intersection of a sphere with a plane which passes through the sphere's center. It seems strange, but for example the shortest line between Florida and the Phillipines takes you through Alaska, even though the Phillipines is south of Florida, and Alaska is far north of both. You can thank Euclid's Fifth Postulate for this.

I don't know whether any of this applies to the question at hand in this thread, but I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions without checking a globe (not a map) for yourself.

[Kirobaito]

It seems strange, but for example the shortest line between Florida and the Phillipines takes you through Alaska, even though the Phillipines is south of Florida, and Alaska is far north of both. You can thank Euclid's Fifth Postulate for this. - Dr Unne

I know it's been 2 years since I've taken Geometry, but this statement makes my head hurt...

[eestlinc]

the fastest way is on a double canoe with a piano.

[Baloki]

The best way is not to go somewhere so cold and northern.

Try France or Antartica, either are warmer!

[Flying Mullet]

Unless it's a direct flight I'd imagine that you'd have to fly south, and either accross North America or Asia, as that's where people live and that's where the planes go.

[Loony BoB]

Who gives a crap, it's over 24 hours stuck in a plane and you're going to have a stopover. Best to just go with the cheapest option, which is generally via South-East Asia. I went via Kuala Lumpur, although I never got out of the airport there. Bloody nice airport, though. xD I just did my best to stretch out at that point. So many hours tucked into a seat in a 747 is not good. In fact, it's awful.

Hmm. More direct... Well, if I remember correctly, Spain is the actual opposite end of Earth from New Zealand... hmm. North? I dunno for sure.

[Meat Puppet]

You'll probably stop in Thailand.

[fire_of_avalon]

Haha, I like the first part of BoB's answer. And I don't like geometry. DocFrance, are you going from New Zealand to Scotland or vice versa?

[Big D]

Usually, there's a stopover in Southeast Asia, as BoB said, or in North America, I believe. Going South, in a direct line over Antarctica, would probably cause problems with unfavourable jetstreams and such, as well as the inevitable lack of fuel. However, NASA claims that their new SCRAMjet technology could cut the trip down to 90 minutes or so, given time to develop it.

[DocFrance]

Originally posted by Loony BoB
Kuala Lumpur

I've seen things, I've seen them with my eyes... [/obscure reference]

FoA: No, just very, very curious.

[Peegee]

Dr Unne's post sounds weird, because if you think 2 dimensionally, flying to Alaska, then to the Philiphines is very long (you transverse the diagonal length of N. America). However if you realise that the earth's rotation forces the "height" of the earth down, you'll realise that N. America stretches very far to the side while N/S wise it is much shorter.

And if you look at the map from Alaska to the Philipines you will see that it is shorter to reach there than from, say, California.

--

Anyway, I don't have ANY idea how far the north and south poles are from each other, or how the earth "bends" so the relative location of Austrailia/NZ and Russia is completely confusing me at this moment.

Perhaps the best course of action is to forgo spherical geometry and get a subterrainean man-driven drill. That way you can go in a straight line for Scotland and forget all this math mumbo jumbo.

[Jack]

West

You love me really

[TasteyPies]

Our planet is an oblate spheriod if noone has pointed that out already, its egg shaped so one way is definitely closer, north or south that is