3 ms·
Same as sailing, does the airplane have an equivalent of the keel?
by formercoder 5y ago
Same as sailing, does the airplane have an equivalent of the keel?
- mr_toad 5y agoYes, the engine. Speaking of sailing, the angle and shape of the sails are both important to maintaining velocity. Racing boats adjust (trim) the shape of the sails all the time. Merely deflecting the wind obeys conservation of momentum, but conservation of energy in an unpowered sailboat (overcoming losses due to friction) also means extracting energy from the airflow.