4 ms·
No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay in the Air (2020)
- Mageek 4y agoThe title is complete clickbait. It should say “no one’s short intuitive explanations of why planes stay in the air are fully correct”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- morpheos137 4y agoI'd say reaction force is a sufficient explanation. The wing compresses the air column below it. The pressurised air generates buoyancy sufficient to dynamically support the air craft while moving at a high enough speed.
- p_l 4y agoAnd unless you cross over to supersonic regime it's completely wrong (^_-)
- morpheos137 4y agoOk. Why? See if this is an educational discussion it makes sense to support one's argument, not just say no, you're wrong...I supported my argument with a plausible explanation. If planes are not supported by the air beneath them pushing up why don't they fall out of the sky?
- rawgabbit 4y agoThere are simple experiments you can perform to prove the correctness of Bernoulli’s principle. If the math cannot accurately describe completely what is happening, then it is our math that is lacking. Technically the air is less dense on top which generates lift. And yes planes do fall from the sky when they stall due large angles of attack which disrupt the laminar flow.
- injb 4y agoBernoullis principle isn't necessary though because there are planes with symmetric wing sections that fly just fine, not to mention the fact that planes with conventional wing sections can fly upside down. The article should probably be called "Half of people can explain why planes stay in the air, but the other half doesn't know they're wrong".
- rawgabbit 4y agoCan you tell me the name of a commercial plane with a symmetric wing cross section?
- p_l 4y agoExtra 300 would be one example. Generally you use symmetric profiles for acrobatic planes - as all profiles have their own pros and cons, and symmetric ones increase capabilities in inverse flight (and acrobatics) while sacrificing low speed and straight flight performance.
- p_l 4y agoSymmetrical wings still use Bernoulli's principle.
- morpheos137 4y agoLess dense is the same as lower pressure above the wing than below. It seems we are arguing about semantics.
- entropicgravity 4y agoJust as no one can explain how bicycles stay up once they get moving. Or why hot air rises but it's always cold in the mountains when they should be hot from all that rising hot air.
- wayeq 4y agoAnd why all these windmills don't keep us cool
- injb 4y agoThere's a very famous book called Stick and Rudder that does a good job of explaining this. A plane stays up because of Newtonian reaction. The Bernloulli principle and its associated airfoil shape should be thought of as an efficient way of displacing air downwards without the appearance of the wing being angled upwards. IOW a classic airfoil that appears horizontal is really best thought of as a flat surface that's angled upwards. When a plane with a wing like that inverts, it really does "lift" downwards, and it takes considerable elevator correction to keep level. If the wing had a symmetric airfoil section, then it needs to be visibly angled upwards in order to fly; but on the other hand when upside down it doesn't take as much elevator input to stay up as the classic asymmetric version.
- musicale 4y agoWe know why paper airplanes stay in the air. They are lifted up by hot air from the teachers they are thrown at.