Gerhard Fiedler wrote: > > I don't understand how you get from force to momentum. In this case, > neither the earth nor the plane have a vertical momentum. (Imagine the > earth as large enough so that the non-flat shape of its surface doesn't > matter.) So neither goes into the momentum preservation calculation. > That's wrong statement "neither goes into the momentum preservation calculation" as the assumption "neither the earth nor the plane have a vertical momentum" is wrong. They have variable momentums strictly within momentum preservation low. Imagine a plane is a molecule, air is molecule and Earth is a molecule too. Plane and Earth will be playing ping-pong, a ball being an air molecule. Clearly Plane and Earth will be experiencing variable momentums. You can glue more molecules into each object, this will affect numbers, but physics would remain the same - variable momentums. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .