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A comment on The Physics of (Airplane) Flight. Parent comment

Re:The Physics of (Airplane) Flight by bruce343434 on Monday July 01, 2024 @10:32AM (#40846193)
I was being a bit facetious, sorry. It matters, but I think what I was getting at is often simply overlooked in favor of airfoil shape and the pressure difference explanation. The situation of gravity no longer being a factor such as with vertical rudders seems often missed. Then, it's suddenly called "rudder force". Even though it's the same thing as "lift". It seems the field of physics has trouble with isolating this concept/phenomenon and coming up with an apt name for it.

Rudders are symmetric, i.e. don't have camber to create high/low pressure on one specific side all the time, and yet they work in redirecting (the relative) flow and thereby through Newtons 3rd redirecting the vessel!

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Re:The Physics of (Airplane) Flight by NovemberWhiskey on Monday July 01, 2024 @11:04AM (#40846456)
The pressure difference explanation is the basic explanation, though. The name of the force is "the aerodynamic force", and there's not really any confusion on that point.

The difference of shape between hydrofoils and airfoils is determined by the properties of the masses in which they move, explained by the same theories of fluid dynamics, rather than any fundamental difference.

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Re:The Physics of (Airplane) Flight by bruce343434 on Monday July 01, 2024 @12:26PM (#40847360)
That's just because when you angle the sheet, more molecules of air hit one side imparting part of their kinetic energy, and fewer molecules on the other side to counteract this. I do realize I'm explaining pressure on a molecular level here, but to me it's still "slicing through" and "pushing against" a lattice of molecules.
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