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Fluid flow is complicated, true - but the basic physical phenomenon of lift is very simple and completely understood: wings redirect air downwards, and the reac
by tobinfricke 12y ago
Fluid flow is complicated, true - but the basic physical phenomenon of lift is very simple and completely understood: wings redirect air downwards, and the reaction force is what we call lift.
- madaxe_again 12y agoAgreed, but it's the fluid flow bit that complicates it. We absolutely understand lift in the Newtonian sense of a reaction, but wings, we're still learning about. If we weren't, we wouldn't have developed winglets and other such adaptations, as we slowly but surely assemble the theoretical particles into a coherent whole.
- timdierks 12y agoInventing new engineering solutions to existing problems (e.g. winglets) is totally different from not understanding the situation at all.
- tobinfricke 12y agoIf we weren't, we wouldn't have developed winglets and other such adaptations... Is the development of new programming languages evidence that we don't "understand" computers? In some very abstract sense, yes, but in a more practical sense - no.
- moron4hire 12y agoNo, but I'd say it means we don't understand software.
- crusso 12y agoYes, but your original comment in this thread is just a semantic ruse. Saying we can't decide how wings work is not at all in the same category as saying these guys don't know how Q works. One "not knowing" is about not knowing exactly precisely how to model something perfectly because it has so much complexity. The other not "not knowing" is about not having even a basic working theory that doesn't use mumbo jumbo and stands up to scrutiny.