Re:Why we don’t understand heavier-than-air flight
by hattar on Saturday June 26, 2021 @04:25PM
(#27645504)
> The Bernoulli effect explanation is bogus.
I hear this but never seem to get any further info. Why are wings shaped with a curved top and flat bottom? Is there a good summary I can go read to understand this all?
Re:Why we don’t understand heavier-than-air flight
by jadyoyster on Saturday June 26, 2021 @04:41PM
(#27645636)
This page explain things well:
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/dynamicso...
AFAIK the wing shape thing is about reducing drag (turbulence?)–not essential but hard to fly well without a nicely shaped wing.
Re:Why we don’t understand heavier-than-air flight
by axiolite on Saturday June 26, 2021 @07:11PM
(#27646865)
That's a terribly oversimplified explanation. May I recommend this one instead:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/foam_wi...
When learning about flight, keep asking yourself "Then how do planes fly upside down?" Any explanation which does not mesh with sustained, inverted flight is oversimplified to the point of uselessness and inaccuracy.
Re:Why we don’t understand heavier-than-air flight
by jadyoyster on Sunday June 27, 2021 @05:03AM
(#27649873)
Actually meant to post this link, sorry!
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/wrong1.html
There are some old controversies that are largely settled. The Microsoft Flight Simulator manual in 1980 "teached the controversy" but it was really settled decades before that. People still remember the controversy from back then and keep repeating it and probably will still do it when people are living in space colonies.
The Bernoulli effect explanation is bogus.
An alternate (correct) explanation is that if you just took a piece of cardboard, held it sideways, and moved it laterally it would push the air down and thus the cardboard would be pushed up.
If you like vector fields you can show that there is a topological defect (vortex ring) that is threaded through the wings and comes around to the other side. If you do an integral around the ring you can show the vortex holds the plane up.