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Seems pretty intuitive to me. If you want to pass something to a friend across the room, would you rather tie it to a balloon or a baseball? Lighter than air i
by bryondowd 10y ago
Seems pretty intuitive to me. If you want to pass something to a friend across the room, would you rather tie it to a balloon or a baseball?
Lighter than air is pretty decent at going up, but not much good at the lateral motion bit.
- sevensor 10y agoYour intuition works differently than mine! The baseball's trajectory is ballistic, while an airplane actually stays aloft. The not falling out of the sky bit is the thing that still boggles my mind. I mean, demonstrably, it works, but that to me does not seem intuitive at all.
- bryondowd 10y agoWell, I was thinking purely about propelling an object that is heavier than air versus lighter than air. An airplane only stays aloft as long as it is being propelled, after that, it's basically falling with style. Likewise, a lighter than air craft is just floating in the wind without being propelled, so the key is which is easier to propel, thus, it compares well to just throwing an object.