Can A Plane Take Off On A Treadmill?
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From: Tampa Florida
Originally Posted by Saki GT,Jan 30 2008, 08:56 PM
People need to understand planes operate on lift, not ground speed. Air speed and ground speed are two different things on a plane. This will blow some of your minds, but a plane can actually fly backwards, given enough head wind.
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From: Montclair,CA
Lol, for anyone still talking about the plane "overcoming the speed of the treadmill" need to watch the last 30 seconds of the episode in which they clearly state that that is a common misconception and the treamill speed does not affect the ability of the airplane to take off.
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From: Bowie, MD
just watched mythbusters last night and i am glad to say that i won 50$ from bets.
i always had an interest in physics and although my physics teacher repeatedly told me that it wont work i kept trying and failing and always dreamed of doing it in real life.
the speed of the airplane is not throttled by the tires but rather by the propeller or jet engine = the amount of air fed into the engine/propeller is enough to push the speed of the plane slightly faster than how the threadmill is running the other direction. with enough air going thru the engine the plane lifts with out the gliding or upward force created by the runway.
with enough speed for ex: if the converyor belt is going 80 mph and the airplane goes 90 mph the, that forward motion gives enough upforce and power to the propeller/turbine to lift up.
dont believe me?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbRcg3ji_Pc&watch_response
i always had an interest in physics and although my physics teacher repeatedly told me that it wont work i kept trying and failing and always dreamed of doing it in real life.
the speed of the airplane is not throttled by the tires but rather by the propeller or jet engine = the amount of air fed into the engine/propeller is enough to push the speed of the plane slightly faster than how the threadmill is running the other direction. with enough air going thru the engine the plane lifts with out the gliding or upward force created by the runway.
with enough speed for ex: if the converyor belt is going 80 mph and the airplane goes 90 mph the, that forward motion gives enough upforce and power to the propeller/turbine to lift up.
dont believe me?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbRcg3ji_Pc&watch_response
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From: Warsaw, Poland
Originally Posted by esracer,Jan 30 2008, 09:25 PM
F1 will be pointing along the x axis in the negative direction and F2 will be pointing in the positive x axis direction. They will cancel out, now there are variables like if the wind speed is going fast enough in the first place to go under the wings then you would have to add another force F3 going along the positive side of the x axis.
So the proper way to solve this problem is to set this minute force of a strong person....lets say 900lbs for shits and giggles, to overcome wheel friction, as your F1 along the x-axis in the negative direction. This is always the same, no matter how fast the treadmill is spinning. Now set F2...the engine's thrust...what is it? 100000lbs? 200000? Along the positive x-axis.
I fail to see how free-spinning wheels' friction can "cancel out" 200000lbs of force.
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Originally Posted by jclamor87,Jan 31 2008, 03:46 PM
just watched mythbusters last night and i am glad to say that i won 50$ from bets.
the amount of air fed into the engine/propeller is enough to push the speed of the plane slightly faster than how the threadmill is running the other direction. with enough air going thru the engine the plane lifts with out the gliding or upward force created by the runway.
with enough speed for ex: if the converyor belt is going 80 mph and the airplane goes 90 mph the, that forward motion gives enough upforce and power to the propeller/turbine to lift up.
dont believe me?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbRcg3ji_Pc&watch_response
the amount of air fed into the engine/propeller is enough to push the speed of the plane slightly faster than how the threadmill is running the other direction. with enough air going thru the engine the plane lifts with out the gliding or upward force created by the runway.
with enough speed for ex: if the converyor belt is going 80 mph and the airplane goes 90 mph the, that forward motion gives enough upforce and power to the propeller/turbine to lift up.
dont believe me?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbRcg3ji_Pc&watch_response
What happened on Mythbusters is that the plane simply behaved as if there was no treadmill affecting it; this is because THE TREADMILL DOES NOT AFFECT THE PLANE whatsoever.
