3 ms·
NASA calls this "The Skipping Stone" theory of lift[1], and it is incorrect. What you're neglecting is that not only the bottom part of the wing diverts air dow
by slavak 11y ago
NASA calls this "The Skipping Stone" theory of lift[1], and it is incorrect. What you're neglecting is that not only the bottom part of the wing diverts air downwards, but indeed the top part does as well; this contributes a large part of the lift generated by the wing.
[1] https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/wrong2.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/wrong2.html
- Retric 11y agoNot quite. If you had a zero width wing you get a void behind the wing. Aka you pushed air down so it's not there. This creates a low pressure area behind the wing. But, that low pressure is still pushing down. It just pushes less than the normal air pressure under a wing. You can see this by dropping a single sheet of paper vs a stack of paper. In your model the low pressure above the wing pulls the paper up slowing it's decent. But, if you drop a stack of loose printer paper the top piece falls as fast as the bottom and is not pulled from the stack.
- jessaustin 11y agoIt's interesting that that page links directly to a "right" page that says basically the same thing. Apparently it's very bad to simplify the explanation so much that one neglects the momentum of the laminar flow over the top of the foil. When I'm explaining it to an 8yo, however, I do neglect that.