why there is reduction in time whille proceeding westward on the earth?
478363
Because when the sun is up in korea, it can't be in the sky at the same time in england.  So when it is noon in korea, it's around midnight in england.  When the sun is coming up in korea (the sun comes up in the east) it is still 3 hours from coming up in india.  Since midnight is the beginning of a new day, the date is different as well.
1035696
This retrograde  "illusion" is based on what we see as stars behind mars. Normally since \neverything is moving west to east, we see the planet mars moving westward against the stars.\nAs we overtake it in our orbit, this westward drift slows as we catch up to mars. \nSeems to stop as we start to pass then go backwards and then finally appears to go forward \nagain. In earth terms, two cars same speed on highway. One behind the other in the next \nlane. Both cars going same speed, so the car in front appears to be going forward \n(eastward, pretend this is Mars). The car in the rear starts to gain so it seems as the car\nin front slows down. (this is measured by the apparent speed of the background bushes and \ntrees behind the car as you look at it.) As you pass the car, it seems to go backward \nagainst the trees, (since earth is on the inside track around the sun, as we catch up to \nmars and both planets are in circle about the sun, it seems like we speed up as we pass). \nAfter we pass and go back to our same speed as the other car, both cars appear to go \nforward again.
556473
Because it would take a lot of time and fuel?  And because they are also in the Earth's gravitational pull, and thus, are also moving along with the Earth (its not like if you jump up in the air, that the Earth moves under you, right?)
320933
Two reasons:\n\nPrimary = spinning + gravity = natural inclination of the material to slowly reach equilibrium. Anything that is not "round" gets pulled/shifted toward the center of gravity (the center of the Earth). The spinning helps this process over billions of years.\n\nSecondary = weather. Erosion constantly smoothing out "bumps" (mountains).\n\nIf this is the best answer, please vote it the best answer. Thanks!
325003
You would have to overcome the spinning motion of the atmosphere.  See my answer to your "if the world stopped spinning" question.  So yes, if you could reach about 900 mph going west, you would be counteracting the spinning of the Earth and eventually be somewhere else "without moving".  Now about the Earth's orbit around the sun...
864564
They're made so the clock corresponds to daylight.  It was convenient to break the world into one-hour zones, which would give you 24.  The zones are determined by state and national boundaries and population concentrations, so they aren't perfectly straight north-south lines.  But the general result is that the sun is always about highest at noon, no matter where you are.  That only leaves the question of how we determine when we move from one day to the next.  That would be the international date line, running down through the Pacific ocean and carefully avoiding almost everything.
993361
Hrmm the problem is "path relative to what frame of reference"?  See, the earth is moving along in a straight line through the curved or warped space of the Sun's gravity well.  But, I guess you're looking for the answer:  straight line.
564572
Because of the curvature of the earth.
431091
It is because of the Earth's rotation.
1054981
If the more educated a person is the less likely they are to commit a crime and you consider war a kind of crime, then raising the level of education everywhere could reduce crime world-wide. \n\nWe are travelling through time right now, but if you mean going backwards or forwards in time, exceed the speed of light to go backwards (which is problematic because then you will become anti-matter according to Einstein's theories and then anihiliate in one massive explosion when you go forward in time and contact matter). To go forward in time? Other than just riding the river of time, you tell me!
60636
We are in earth.As earth rotates we too rotate. The starting point and the destination point both rotate as they are after all points on earth. Therfore weather  we fly opposite or in the same direction of rotation of earth it makes no difference. \n To understand it better, think you are in a fast moving train.If we walk with constant speed from engine to the last compartment in 20 minutes the same time will take to return to the engine from the last compartmemt.\nFor an outsider who is in the platform  the thing will appear  differently. When you move opposite to the direction of train he will say that you are little slow than the train"s speed and When you move in the same direction of train he will say that you are little faster than the train.\nEven then he will calculate the time of your travel within the train as the same for to and fro motion.\n If the train moves with a speed nearer to the velocity of light then to understand the motion we must study Einstein's relativity theory.
234240
Because if it went counterclockwise time would be going in reverse? :)
990179
time is not the movement of light. \nit is only perceived that way because it's the fastest thing we know of.  \n\nIf you traveled to a planet that is 4 lightyears away in only 3 years, time has still passed, and you are still older, you have simply managed to get to that planet faster than light waves were able to.
68749
Rabid_Scientist is entirely correct.  Both you and your home see time in the other place as speeding up.  I do have something to add to that though.  If you maintain a constant velocity, it can only be measured relative to some other point of reference, so there is no way to determine which is faster, and consequenty it cannot be determined whose time is actually going faster.  However, if you are accelerating it's a whole different story.  As you speed up to that super fast speed where the time differental starts to be noticable, you will see time on your home planet speed up and they will see your time slow down. (Sorry, I'm not going to try to explain this, I'm not sure I entirely understand it myself).  If you were to go back to your home planet, far more time would have passed for them than for you.  This effect will be greater with greater acceleration and greater speed so in that regard time will pass on your home planet more quickly the faster you go.
1094919
Latitude does not affect time, it just affects daylight length. Longitude affects time\nNow ... the earth is a circle, (360 degrees) it turns once a day, 360 degrees in 24 hours, 15 degrees an hour. The 0 meridian is at Greenwich in London. so 10 degrees east is 40 minutes in front of Greenwich, and 70 degrees west is 280 minutes behind Greenwich. Using this we can say that 70 degrees west is 320 minutes behind 10 degrees east that is 5hrs and 20 minutes take that away from the flight time and you have 4 hours and 40 minutes, this means it will be 06.40 a.m. , local time, when you land
651108
We know that the Earth is 360 degrees(as the Earth is a sphere). Now the Earth takes about 24 hrs to complete a rotation or 360 degrees. Therefore in 1 hour, it will travel 15 degrees. But some times countries are so small that they don't even occupy 15 degree area. So its half - 7.5 degrees is taken into consideration. The main purpose of taking all this trouble is to make the calculation of time easier.
191735
You are traveling in time as you read this, You may adjust how fast you are traveling by slowing or increasing your velocity. Alternatively you may do so by subjecting yourself to a strong gravitational field. You may not travel in another direction. No matter how you adjust your travel through time relative to an outside observer from your own viewpoint time will seem to pass at the same pace.\n\nPlease consider becoming a member of my group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarthII/