Another thing that's counter-intuitive. Why do jetstreams move from West to East in the same direction that the earth rotates (from West to East)?
Explanation is that the winds move FASTER than the earth rotates.
From weather.gov:
The result is the wind moves faster than the earth rotates so it moves from west to east (relative to us at the surface).
OK, so the winds move faster than 1000 MPH (at the equator)?
But I thought that gravity held the atmosphere tightly bound to the earth? But then, if not, why don't we have winds moving at breakneck speeds the OTHER way, from East to West? None of that makes any sense whatsoever.
In the Felix Baumgartner jump video above, after a 2.5-hour ascent, he then jumped, and landed 40 miles EAST of his takeoff point. After 2.5 hours, he should have been nearly 2,000 miles WEST, in the Pacific ocean. Except the explanatioin is that gravity has an iron grip on him even at that elevation when not connected to the earth by anything other than the air in between?
Which one is it? Either gravity has a death-grip on everything within its reach, or a gentle breeze can move a balloon around. But if gravity has a death grip dragging things along with its rotation, then how is it that planes can easily land on north-south-facing runways. You would think that the earth rotating and dragging everything along with it in its death grip would want to drag the plane eastward as it's landing?
If a plane were travelling from the North Pole to the equator due south, then it would have to massively increase its angular momentum against the eastward tug of "gravity" as it went south, but a plane cuts through that stuff like it's not even there, and it's in no way noticeable.
This simply defies all common sense. I'm sorry, but none of that makes any sense at all. People just pontificate and say things, but things that defy all common sense.