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Plane + Giant Treadmill = ?

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:21 am
by dent
OK, I have seen this all over other forums and i figured i would bring it here.

This is the original question:

"Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyor belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?"

I'm interested to hear your thoughts :)

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:28 am
by saunby
No, I just spent a couple of seconds thinking about that and everytime I tried to figure an explanation for yes there wasnt one.

Quite simply, the plane is basically at a standstill which means it cant take off, it needs to have the wind/air rushing underneath the wings to give it the lift so if there is none of that then its not going to take off.

Also it will never happen XD

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:25 pm
by Greed
This experiment is near impossible to creat but..... i dont think the plane will take off.

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:12 pm
by Darko
Obviously not.

Think about what makes the plane lift off. Aerodynamics.

Since the plane would not be moving at all, since the speed of the wheels and

the belt would cancel each other out. A plane needs to be moving at a fast

land speed for the wings to obtain the lift from the passing air to counter
act the weight of the plane.

But hahaha, its a trick question.

Wiki'd

VTOL is an acronym for Vertical Take-Off and Landing. VTOL describes fixed-wing aircraft that can lift off vertically. This classification includes only a very few aircraft; helicopters, autogyros; balloons and airships are not normally considered VTOL. Some aircraft can operate in VTOL mode in addition to others, such as CTOL (Conventional Take-off and Landing) and/or STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing). Others can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle horizontal motion.

Currently there are two types of practical VTOL aircraft in military service:

* Using a tiltrotor — the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey
* Using directed jet thrust — the Harrier Jump Jet family.

SO these jets do not need to be going at any speed to lift off.

:)

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:54 pm
by dent
Darky wrote: But hahaha, its a trick question.

Wiki'd

VTOL is an acronym for Vertical Take-Off and Landing. VTOL describes fixed-wing aircraft that can lift off vertically. This classification includes only a very few aircraft; helicopters, autogyros; balloons and airships are not normally considered VTOL. Some aircraft can operate in VTOL mode in addition to others, such as CTOL (Conventional Take-off and Landing) and/or STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing). Others can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle horizontal motion.

Currently there are two types of practical VTOL aircraft in military service:

* Using a tiltrotor — the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey
* Using directed jet thrust — the Harrier Jump Jet family.

SO these jets do not need to be going at any speed to lift off.

:)
this question only takes into account normal planes, so that wouldnt work :roll: lol

Like this one: (lol)
Image

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:03 pm
by Darko
Darky wrote:Obviously not.

Think about what makes the plane lift off. Aerodynamics.

Since the plane would not be moving at all, since the speed of the wheels and

the belt would cancel each other out. A plane needs to be moving at a fast

land speed for the wings to obtain the lift from the passing air to counter
act the weight of the plane.
The rest still applies

PostPosted:Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:42 pm
by Raziel
Bah it will F***ing take off b.c i said so lol ^____^