Monday 1 June 2015

what would happen if you towed an aeroplane backwards?

wings generate lift because of their shape. A given quantity of air has to travel further to get from the leading edge to the trailing edge when going over the wing than when going under. This means the same number of atoms is dispersed over a greater length, and therefore, the pressure is lower than for the same quantity of air travelling below the wing.

So if you put the plane into reverse somehow, and go fast enough, presumably the wing would still generate lift, and the plane would rise.

I'm assuming that putting the thick bit of the curve towards the front is more efficient, which is why they do it that way.

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1 comment:

Pete said...

I imagine the vertical stabiliser might have some say about this. "So move it to the front," says Paul. But then the front of the plane has become the back and the plane is no longer in reverse. Somewhere in the world there will be a computer-generated simulation of your idea.