Plane on a conveyor belt
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Damn, I missed out on this argument. Thanks to all of my advanced mechanical engineering classes...Wait, I don't need any of them. It flys. It would be the same as with a runway that is stationary. The only small difference is the greater rotational friction force from the wheels spinning faster, which is going to be relatively small. Planes move from thrust not like a car...
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tjamz wrote:
In your case #1 example, it is impossible for the plane to take off under any circumstances as you are assuming that any friction put on the wheels/bearings is enough to keep it from moving forward under thrust from the engines when in reality the most resistance you are encountering is just to get the plane moving, once it is moving the resistance becomes almost a complete non factor in the equationFuck. You got me there. I was imagining a scenario where static friction is strong enough to hold the plane in place. I reread the first post and saw that the belt moving at the same speed as the plane, in which case it wouldn't. Bastard..
2005 Mercedes-Benz C240 4Matic
1993 Mazda Rx-7 Twin Turbo (sold)
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YAY, I WIN HERE TOO!!!
I think I just ended a 130+ page long argument on phys.org with my analogies as well. I rule!
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well, Mythbusters is going to take on this one on January 30th....just thought I'd bring this thread back from the dead for some good arguments til then.
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AFAIK it depends. I am assuming treadmill is movig at the same speed as the engines would be propelling the aircraft forward, thus making the aircraft basically stationary on the treadmill with the wheels spinning. If the airplane has strong enough engines to pull the entire weight into the air without the aid of the lift created by the wings then it will fly, but the engines would have to be pointed at an angle to go 'up'. in this scenerio the aircraft would also be able to lift itself into the air from a standing stop without a treadmill, like a VTOL. in the case of a normal passenger aircraft, where the engines themselves are not enough to pull the aircraft into the air, the aircraft needs to be moving forward at a certain rate of speed (say 150mph) for the wings to create enough lift to get it off the ground. In that case, if the treadmill is keeping the aircraft from moving forward and creating lift, the aircraft will not take off. if you did the same thing in a wind tunnel however, with enough wind to create enough lift under the wings, the aircraft would fly. also if the treadmill were as long or longer than a runway and the engines of the aircraft were somehow strong enough to pull the aircraft forward at takeoff speed against the treadmill (so on a 50mph treadmill, 200mph assuming a 150mph takeoff speed) but not enough to lift the aircraft without the aid of lift created by the wings, it would fly once it reached takeoff speed. just the way i think about it.
as i understand it, most aircraft stay in the air via lift via thrust. the engines are not strong enough to pull a gigantic jetliner into the air from a standing stop. instead, the aircraft has huge wings. the engines move the wings forward at a high enough rate of speed for the wings themselves to create enough lift to get the aircraft into the air. if the aircraft slows down too much, the wings cannot create enough lift and the aircraft stalls and drops until moving again at a high enough rate of speed to create enough lift to get flying again.
as i understand, some of you think an aircraft flies by the thrust of the engines. you would need thrust equal to the weight of the aircraft to get off the ground. can you imagine the amount of power it would take to lift a 747 straight up off the ground? holy shit! you also wouldn't need wings, you could manuver the aircraft with thrust vectoring or varying the angle of attack of the blades like a helicopter.
a few examples:
the harrier jet. the engines produce enough THRUST to lift the aircraft straight up off the ground.
the osprey: the engines spin the blades, which are basically wings, at a high enough rate of speed to create enough LIFT to get the osprey off the ground. In forward flight, the blades are still angled slightly up to retain altitude. the wings are there to keep the blades from wacking into each other, and to facilitate manuverability. A helicopter works in the same way. except without the wings.
amirite?
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here is an example of an aircraft light enough with an engine powerfull enough to cause it to fly without lift. basically it could be thought of as a helicopter with the control surfaces on the aircraft instead of angleing the blades.
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JohnW;199198 wrote:
AFAIK it depends. I am assuming treadmill is movig at the same speed as the engines would be propelling the aircraft forward, thus making the aircraft basically stationary on the treadmill with the wheels spinning.And this is where you are wrong. Sorry. The treadmill can spin at 10,000mph, and assuming the tires don't blow/bearings don't fail, the plane will still move forward on the treadmill relative to the stationary ground. Once the plane is moving forward at a fast enough speed there WILL BE AIR FLOWING OVER THE WINGS and the plane will take off.
If you ignore physics and somehow create a treadmill that will be able to hold a plane stationary on it, the plane will not take off. But, if you get to ignore physics for your theory, I get to ignore gravity.
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Or think about it this way...I can take a toy car and roll it across to the belt of a belt sander w/ no problem when the sander is off. Turn the sander on and I can still roll the toy car forward on the belt sander. The force of the belt sander is > the force that I can exert on the toy car, yet I am still able to move it across its moving surface. In the treadmill vs plane scenario, the treadmill likely has less force than the jet/prop/whatever of the aircraft and therefore will not inhibit the forward motion of the plane at all. If forward motion is not prevented, the plane will move forward forcing air over the wings and when proper speed is attained for takeoff, the plane will lift off. Every time.
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ok yes it will take of no matter what the speed of the conveyor is going.
conveyor 50mph, then the plane wheels go 50mph when it is standing still. so when it is going say 200mph to generate enough lift to take so the wheels are going 200mph. now if you ad the speed of the conveyor going the opposite direction the wheel will be travling 250mph. and the plane will still take of no matter what the speed of the wheels and it is not the wheel that drive the plane it is the thrust from the jet engines.
now if a ged having high school drop out can answer this in a semi cohearent manner. how the fuck do you ppl not get how a plane works??????
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Notice that the setup never tells you what speed of the plane to use. I take that as an open door for both theoretical and practical approaches.
Obviously if you use the plane's airspeed or ground speed the plane will take off.Now if you use the plane's rolling speed, which is relative to the belt, then the plane can't theoretically take-off, just based off the matched speeds. Practically this can never occur unless the plane is at rest. -
Used;199214 wrote:
Notice that the setup never tells you what speed of the plane to use. I take that as an open door for both theoretical and practical approaches.
Obviously if you use the plane's airspeed or ground speed the plane will take off.Now if you use the plane's rolling speed, which is relative to the belt, then the plane can't theoretically take-off, just based off the matched speeds. Practically this can never occur unless the plane is at rest.Actually, it takes off either way...the point on the conveyor and the plane can & will both move if both are in motion. If you measure its speed relative to treadmill it still doesn't prevent the plane from moving as the plane and the conveyor can move in opposite directions of each other. The only way to stop the plane from taking off is to ignore physics and the way a plane operates.
As for the speed of the plane, well the question states that the belt matches the speed of the plane, and since the belt has absolutely no real affect on the planes ability to accelerate, I think it is safe to say it will accelerate to the point in which it can take off.
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