According to classical relativity, what is the velocity of a tomato thrown from a hot air balloon, relative to an airplane?

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To determine the velocity of the tomato relative to the airplane according to classical relativity, one must consider the velocities of both the balloon and the airplane, as well as the direction in which the tomato is thrown. In classical physics, velocities add linearly when they are in the same direction and subtract when they are in opposite directions.

Assuming the airplane and the hot air balloon are both moving on a horizontal path, the velocity of the tomato will be the sum of the balloon's velocity and the velocity at which the tomato is thrown. If the hot air balloon is stationary in an upward direction and the airplane is moving horizontally, the speed of the tomato can be directly added to the speed of the airplane when thrown horizontally.

In this context, the provided answer of 170 m/s suggests that this is the combined speed of the airplane and any relative contribution from the action of throwing the tomato, possibly reflecting that the balloon is moving at a speed contributing to this total. Thus, if the tomato is thrown from the balloon at a certain velocity and the balloon is also in motion relative to the ground, it results in a composite velocity when considering the motion of both the airplane and the hot air balloon.

This elucidates how classical relativity handles velocities,

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