Planes ... how do they work?

blu3wave | 11:43 Wed 15th Aug 2007 | How it Works

10 Answers

In simple and plain english, how do the planes take off?

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whiffey

They rev up and go very fast along a runway until the driver pulls his stick back.

The new Typhoon Eurofighter is different though, it's done by compooters

ztim

Look at a wing from the side. It is rounded on top and flat on the bottom. At rest, there is the same amount of pressure pushing down on the wing as pressing up. Remove the top pressure and the bottom pressure will push up. The way to do this is to move the airfoil forward using thrust from an engine. (a propeller is an airfoil too!) As the plane travels down the runway and gains speed, the airfoil will lose the top pressure.

Try this. Take a thin strip of paper about two inches wide and hold between your thumb and index finger. Blow over the top of the paper thus removing the top pressure. What does the paper do?

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blu3wave

Question Author

thanks for the replies.... but I'm still curious about how planes land as well.... if you think about it, these massive machines flying low near the ground, and the wheels just make a slight bump when they hit the ground, I'd have thought a plane landing would be a lot more dangerous than that??

mibn2cweus

The wings shape can be altered to provide more or less lift. Maximising the lift allows the plane to descend slowly at a reduced forward speed. The rear wing is also adjustable allowing the pilot to control the angle of descent.

how to land an airplane

ryepie

The shape of the wings is not the whole story. If it was all due to the shape of the wings then planes would have great difficulty flying upside down!

Military aircraft with flat wings still manage to fly, and this is due to the Angle of Attack, the orientation of the wings Chord to the airflow. Try it yourself, in a moving car stick your hand oput the window so that the palm of your hand is facing and parallel to the ground. Now rotate your wrist so that the front edge of your hand tilts up. You will notice it is now keen to move upwards!

Look up the Coanda effect as well as this is also relevent to wing design.

Mrs_Pegasus

ztim says "Try this. Take a thin strip of paper about two inches wide and hold between your thumb and index finger. Blow over the top of the paper thus removing the top pressure. What does the paper do?"

It flies out into my glass of wine and my husband shakes his head in pity!