Why do far away objects appear to move slowly in comparison to nearby objects?

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It's because the angle under which a certain distance appears to you depends on how far away the object you are looking at is. I mada a diagram: One object is far away, one object is close. Traveling by the same distance, you see a large angle for the closer object and a small angle for the far object.Thus the angle grows slower for far away objects and thus it seems that you travel more slowly with respect to them.

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Manisha
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Manisha

Updated on August 02, 2022

Comments

  • Manisha
    Manisha over 1 year

    When we are in a moving train, nearby stationary objects appear to go backwards. In Physics, relative velocity can be employed to explain the phenomenon:

    velocity of object w.r.t train = velocity of object - velocity of train

    Far away stationary objects, however, appear to move slowly in comparison to nearby objects. Here the concept of relative velocity seems to fail. Why is it so? Does it mean that relative velocity formula is also dependent on the distance between the two objects?

  • Manisha
    Manisha over 11 years
    ok i got you what you mean to explain but answer me one more question then....Is the formula of relative velocity which i mentioned in my question is applicable only for nearby objects then..
  • Manisha
    Manisha over 11 years
    please answer my question i am waiting for your concerned reply.
  • Bernhard
    Bernhard over 11 years
    @sanaya Please be patient. The transformation is correct. But if you see it from another perspective: Close by, you can only see objects of the size of a few meters. For objects far away you can recognize object of kilometers wide. This as to do with the same fewining angle, displayed so nicely in the picture above.
  • Manisha
    Manisha over 11 years
    I am very well convinced with the answer given above but then also there is only one doubt in my mind now ..Why the formula of relative velocity did not work here?please clear this doubt..your concerned answer will help me a lot..
  • anna v
    anna v over 11 years
    It is because velocity is dependent on meters/second but perception depends on the angles subtended. In the distance the eye is measuring angular velocity : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_velocity
  • Inquisitive
    Inquisitive about 4 years
    Is it because the far away objects (which are visible from the earth) are massive. So an object with long radius looks really small from the earth. So it moves with great speed but we feel like it barely moves(It moves significantly, but it looks as if it moved by a small distance, from the earth) . (It is just like the diameter of that planet. Its diameter is really large but it looks really small for us)