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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 12:03:16 GMT -8
Think about it... Will an airplane on a treadmill take off? Friday morning is as good a time as any to revisit what I consider one of the quintessential Kottke.org post(s), The case of the  and conveyor belt. Essentially, will an airplane take off on a treadmill. Prompted by a question on The Straight Dope, the post, now over 7 years old, has everything you need for a Kottke.org post: airplanes, physics, a waffle, and careful consideration of the facts. The question was addressed again a few days later to definitively and succinctly put the argument to rest. Now that I've closed the comments on the question of the airplane and the conveyor belt, I'm still getting emails calling me an idiot for thinking that the will take off. Having believed that after first hearing the question and formulating several reasons reinforcing my belief, I can sympathize with that POV, but that doesn't change the fact that I was initially wrong and that if you believe the won't take off, you're wrong too. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 15:42:34 GMT -8
The only way a would take off from a conveyor belt is if the conveyor was either propelling the forward. And it hit the necessary speed to attain proper lift. Or for some reason the conveyor was generating that amount of wind speed. However if it did manage to generate that wind the would not have the forward momentum to maintain that speed in the second example.
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and conveyor belt. Essentially, will an airplane take off on a treadmill. Prompted by a question on The Straight Dope, the post, now over 7 years old, has everything you need for a Kottke.org post: airplanes, physics, a waffle, and careful consideration of the facts. The question was addressed again a few days later to definitively and succinctly put the argument to rest.