Mythbusters to take on "the plane and the treadmill" conundrum?

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DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
0
Originally posted by: async
If the treadmill is free running so that it matches the velocity of the plane relative to the ground, then the plane will take off for all the reasons already mentioned with the wheels spinning at twice the usual angular velocity.

If the treadmill is programmed to match the rotational speed of the wheels at the circumference, then the wheels are going to speed up exponentially, the bearings will eventually seize (or the tyres will explode) and the landing gear will get ripped off causing massive structural damage to the plane.

In the real world you would expect some form of explosion.
In a test environment with a model plane you'll get a confused gym patron with a toy plane stuck up his ass.

John

Shens. Probably.
 

smack Down

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2005
4,507
0
0
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: smack Down
A real treadmill would be unable to stop the truck but that doesn't matter.

We are not talking about a real treadmil.

You are one of the few people who are smart enough to actually get it. Bravo.
:thumbsup:

This is the kind of response you get from a troll having a temper tantrum.

You seem to be intent on discussing the version of the problem that defies the laws of physics - and because the situation described in the problem cannot exist you take that to mean that it can't take off. On the contrary - how can you say if the plane would or would not take off if the situation it's supposed to take off in can't exist in the first place?

Even if you insist on using the poorly worded version of the problem, the answer is yes, the plane can still take off. A plane does not need to move relative to the ground in order to take off. You know how a plane has an airspeed and a ground speed? And they're not always the same? The airspeed is the one that matters, because that determines how much lift the wings generate. It doesn't matter what your groundspeed is, if you have a high enough airspeed the plane will leave the ground.

In other words - strong gust of wind.

But an intelligent person would use the version of the question that does not describe an impossible scenario. (That is, the version of the question where the treadmill matches the plane's speed relative to the ground, not the rotational speed of the wheels)

Lets assume that there is no wind otherwise it is just stupid.

But what law of physics is being violated.
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,018
216
106
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: smack Down
A real treadmill would be unable to stop the truck but that doesn't matter.

We are not talking about a real treadmil.

You are one of the few people who are smart enough to actually get it. Bravo.
:thumbsup:

This is the kind of response you get from a troll having a temper tantrum.

You seem to be intent on discussing the version of the problem that defies the laws of physics - and because the situation described in the problem cannot exist you take that to mean that it can't take off. On the contrary - how can you say if the plane would or would not take off if the situation it's supposed to take off in can't exist in the first place?

Even if you insist on using the poorly worded version of the problem, the answer is yes, the plane can still take off. A plane does not need to move relative to the ground in order to take off. You know how a plane has an airspeed and a ground speed? And they're not always the same? The airspeed is the one that matters, because that determines how much lift the wings generate. It doesn't matter what your groundspeed is, if you have a high enough airspeed the plane will leave the ground.

In other words - strong gust of wind.

But an intelligent person would use the version of the question that does not describe an impossible scenario. (That is, the version of the question where the treadmill matches the plane's speed relative to the ground, not the rotational speed of the wheels)

Actually if one ignores the laws of physics(or math, or whatever) and hypothesizes on what would actually happen in the wheel speed/infinite acceleration scenario, the airplane still takes off. Although it would be taking off backwards... the airplane cannot have infinite thrust and the treadmill can, since it accelerates infinitely, therefore the airplane would be moved backwards at an infinite speed and fly off the treadmill then crash shortly afterwards. :)
 

smack Down

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2005
4,507
0
0
Originally posted by: randay
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: smack Down
A real treadmill would be unable to stop the truck but that doesn't matter.

We are not talking about a real treadmil.

You are one of the few people who are smart enough to actually get it. Bravo.
:thumbsup:

This is the kind of response you get from a troll having a temper tantrum.

You seem to be intent on discussing the version of the problem that defies the laws of physics - and because the situation described in the problem cannot exist you take that to mean that it can't take off. On the contrary - how can you say if the plane would or would not take off if the situation it's supposed to take off in can't exist in the first place?

Even if you insist on using the poorly worded version of the problem, the answer is yes, the plane can still take off. A plane does not need to move relative to the ground in order to take off. You know how a plane has an airspeed and a ground speed? And they're not always the same? The airspeed is the one that matters, because that determines how much lift the wings generate. It doesn't matter what your groundspeed is, if you have a high enough airspeed the plane will leave the ground.

In other words - strong gust of wind.

But an intelligent person would use the version of the question that does not describe an impossible scenario. (That is, the version of the question where the treadmill matches the plane's speed relative to the ground, not the rotational speed of the wheels)

Actually if one ignores the laws of physics(or math, or whatever) and hypothesizes on what would actually happen in the wheel speed/infinite acceleration scenario, the airplane still takes off. Although it would be taking off backwards... the airplane cannot have infinite thrust and the treadmill can, since it accelerates infinitely, therefore the airplane would be moved backwards at an infinite speed and fly off the treadmill then crash shortly afterwards. :)

If your just going to troll you should leave the thread.
 

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
OMG, this thread is insanity. Good grief, the plane takes off, people. Now whats this about somebody's ass and peanut butter?
 

felony27

Senior member
Sep 8, 2005
285
0
0
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,351
19,518
146
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

Very easily. The treadmill is irrelevant to the airspeed of the plane because the plane moves itself by pushing air behind it, NOT by force through the wheels.

You are applying the drive train of a car to this problem. How fast the ground is moving is completely irrelevant to the airspeed of the plane (given the UNPOWERED wheels can withstand the extra speed). If it were, a plane would gain speed on a regular runway, take off, lose thrust and be forced to land again.

The wheels ONLY exist to reduce friction. They do not drive the plane... so how fast the ground is moving is, again, totally irrelevant. This is why planes on skids, pontoons and skis can take off.
 

smack Down

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2005
4,507
0
0
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

Very easily. The treadmill is irellevant to the airspeed of the plane because the plane moves itself by pushing air behind it, NOT by force through the wheels.

You are applying the drivetrain of a car to this problem. How fast the ground is moving is completely irrelavnt to the airspeed of the plane (given the UNPOWERED wheels can withstand the extra speed). If it were, a plane would gain speed on a regular runway, take off, lose thrust and be forced to land again.

The wheels ONLY exist to reduce friction. They do not drive the plane... so how fast the ground is moving is, again, totally irrelevant.

You forgot to prove that one can't apply a force via the wheels.
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
0
Here's what I believe will happen:

Plane is sitting still, engines start up and allowed to warm up (not providing any thrust).
Pilot cleared for takeoff and opens up the throttle to full.
Planes moves forward, conveyor tries to compensate so increases speed as quick as it possibly can.
Despite wheels turning stupidly fast, the plane will still move forward because of massive thrust.
After a short while the grip of the tyres will give up and you'll be seeing loads of smoke and some horrible noises.
Assuming gear can take this, the plane will continue forward (you can take off in a large aircraft with the brakes on, so long as you don't want to use your gear/tyres again).
Aircraft moves faster and faster with same amount of smoke and screeching going on (tyres are beyond maximum grip).
Aircraft takes off.
Pilot wonders how he's going to land, perhaps considering using some kind of conveyor belt to belly down onto...
Smack down sits in the corner and has a little cry. ;)
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

You don't measure engine power in mph...

Just picking random numbers out of the air, this is how it works:

Engines provide say 100,000 Ns of constant force forward.

Treadmill goes backwards as fast as it wants, rotating the wheels of the plane.

Normal forces between the plane and axles and contact between the plane and axles via bearings results in frictional drag on the plane from the axles as the wheels experience high speed rotation on the treadmill.

This drag force is the same force which slows your car down when you coast... however most of that slowing is from air resistance. If you coasted you car in a vacuum, how far would you roll before coming to a complete stop? Quite far actually. Clearly the rolling frictional drag of the wheels and axles is insignificant. In reality, the friction forces in the bearings cancel themselves out as the bearing rotates. Ie: the friction force on the top of the bearing moving foward is negated by the bottom of the bearing moving backwards. It's not perfectly balanced since the top half experiences more normal force due to bearing weight and the back of the bearing is being pushed against the rear of the housing, so there IS a net drag force backwards that the axle exerts on the body it's fixed to, but it's close enough. The majority of actual loss of speed comes from the gradual conversion of a fixed amount of kinetic energy into lost heat energy. If you roll long enough to come to a stop, the total heat released in the axle bearings, the measured heat from the tires, the internal energy absorbed IN the tires that has softened the compound, etc. would be equal to the initial kinetic energy at the start of the coast. But for the sake of continuity, lets continuing calling this loss of kinetic energy 'frictional drag'

The force of frictional drag felt by the axles is maybe, lets throw out, 50 Ns, a force which the plane has to overcome normally when taking off anyway, along with air resistance, etc. The plane can be moving forward at only 50 mph and the treadmill can be moving backwards at 600 mph. The drag force may then be 60+ Ns at the axles due to increased friction, still nowhere near the 100,000 Ns of the engines constant thrust.

100,000 Ns >>>>>> 50 Ns, so the plane has a net acceleration foward, which creates air speed and it flys as normal.


Here is yet another example despite my claiming to try one last time before...

Take a toy car with sufficient mass with good working wheels (ie: wheels that spin freely and don't stick when you try to spin them and let them freely spin)

Launch the car across a table with a table cloth as hard as you can and yank the table cloth out as fast as you can (ie: like the 'magic trick').

Observe that you only spin the wheels faster, as evidenced by the brief high pitch 'wzzz' of the wheels spinning faster the moment you pull the table cloth. The toy will still continue forward, only in this case under its own forward inertia and without a constantly applied pushing force. A heavy car is needed because this experiment relys on momentum to maintain forward movement in place of an external acceleration force.

 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,351
19,518
146
Originally posted by: smack Down
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

Very easily. The treadmill is irellevant to the airspeed of the plane because the plane moves itself by pushing air behind it, NOT by force through the wheels.

You are applying the drivetrain of a car to this problem. How fast the ground is moving is completely irrelavnt to the airspeed of the plane (given the UNPOWERED wheels can withstand the extra speed). If it were, a plane would gain speed on a regular runway, take off, lose thrust and be forced to land again.

The wheels ONLY exist to reduce friction. They do not drive the plane... so how fast the ground is moving is, again, totally irrelevant.

You forgot to prove that one can't apply a force via the wheels.

I don't have to. Imagine the treadmill was ice and the plane had skis. The only question here is: Can the plane's wheels take the extra speed? Since a jet must be at about 140 MPH to take off, the wheels must be able to withstand a speed of 280 MPH. Not hard for them to do if properly maintained. If not, simply beef them up a bit.

Either way, the plane takes off.

 

smack Down

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2005
4,507
0
0
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: smack Down
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

Very easily. The treadmill is irellevant to the airspeed of the plane because the plane moves itself by pushing air behind it, NOT by force through the wheels.

You are applying the drivetrain of a car to this problem. How fast the ground is moving is completely irrelavnt to the airspeed of the plane (given the UNPOWERED wheels can withstand the extra speed). If it were, a plane would gain speed on a regular runway, take off, lose thrust and be forced to land again.

The wheels ONLY exist to reduce friction. They do not drive the plane... so how fast the ground is moving is, again, totally irrelevant.

You forgot to prove that one can't apply a force via the wheels.

I don't have to. Imagine the treadmill was ice and the plane had skis. The only question here is: Can the plane's wheels take the extra speed? Since a jet must be at about 140 MPH to take off, the wheels must be able to withstand a speed of 280 MPH. Not hard for them to do if properly maintained. If not, simply beef them up a bit.

Either way, the plane takes off.

How about we think about wheels.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,351
19,518
146
Originally posted by: smack Down
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: smack Down
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: felony27
okay i dont understand what the hell is going on and i read this thread...

airplanes NEED air going over the wings to fly. if that need is fulfilled than the plane cannot and will not take off. no matter how much those huge engines thrust the plane forward it its force will just be matched by the treadmill but in the opposite direction. the myth states the treadmill matches. meaning engines thrust to 50 mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50 mph engines thrust to 50,000mph treadmill go in opposite direction 50,000mph. the total NET speed will always be 0mph. now with calm wind and 0mph how is a 164,800lb (empty weight) plane suppose to get airborn. the wheels can spin at a speed of infinity only to be matched by treadmill...stop focusing on friction, wheels, axels, rc planes, all that bs...no AIR over the WINGS no LIFT.
air over wings=lift...theres no other way to get lift on an airplane.

and like i said the myth state the treadmill will always match the speed of the airplane...meaning u can slam on the brakes or put the thrust to 100% or whatever u want to do but the treadmill will alwasy match the speed of the plane.

so lets look at these formulas. if any of these are wrong please correct me.

air over wings=lift
no air over wings=no lift

please prove me wrong.

Very easily. The treadmill is irellevant to the airspeed of the plane because the plane moves itself by pushing air behind it, NOT by force through the wheels.

You are applying the drivetrain of a car to this problem. How fast the ground is moving is completely irrelavnt to the airspeed of the plane (given the UNPOWERED wheels can withstand the extra speed). If it were, a plane would gain speed on a regular runway, take off, lose thrust and be forced to land again.

The wheels ONLY exist to reduce friction. They do not drive the plane... so how fast the ground is moving is, again, totally irrelevant.

You forgot to prove that one can't apply a force via the wheels.

I don't have to. Imagine the treadmill was ice and the plane had skis. The only question here is: Can the plane's wheels take the extra speed? Since a jet must be at about 140 MPH to take off, the wheels must be able to withstand a speed of 280 MPH. Not hard for them to do if properly maintained. If not, simply beef them up a bit.

Either way, the plane takes off.

How about we think about wheels.

I did. Read the whole post.

The wheels simply have to be able to withstand twice the speed of a normal takeoff. On a prop plane, about 180-190 MPH. On a jet, about 280MPH. Not hard at all especially since landing gear is usually over-engineered for safety.
 

uselessengineer

Junior Member
Jan 18, 2007
12
0
0
Okay. 19 Pages for this topic and it just goes back and forth.

A plane's wing works through the means of air pressure. A wing provides lift because as it sails through the air, the pressure on the underside of the wing is greater than that over the top side of the wing. Lift is created. If the wing does not move, then the pressure differential will no develop and lift is not created.

If there is a plane creating thrust, and unless there is sufficient counter force provided on the wheels (which there isnt), then the plane will gain velocity until sufficient airspeed is obtained to lift off. Matching the plane's wheels velocity would do nothing but increase the rotational velocity on the wheels.

Bottom Line: A plane cannot use a treadmill to take off, unless you lock the wheels on the treadmill and propel the plane forward with it (catapult the plane to the airspeed required).:shocked:
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,351
19,518
146
Originally posted by: uselessengineer
Okay. 19 Pages for this topic and it just goes back and forth.

A plane's wing works through the means of air pressure. A wing provides lift because as it sails through the air, the pressure on the underside of the wing is greater than that over the top side of the wing. Lift is created. If the wing does not move, then the pressure differential will no develop and lift is not created.

If there is a plane creating thrust, and unless there is sufficient counter force provided on the wheels (which there isnt), then the plane will gain velocity until sufficient airspeed is obtained to lift off. Matching the plane's wheels velocity would do nothing but increase the rotational velocity on the wheels.

Bottom Line: A plane cannot use a treadmill to take off, unless you lock the wheels on the treadmill and propel the plane forward with it (catapult the plane to the airspeed required).:shocked:

Your name fits you.

The plane does not use it wheels for thrust, therefore what the ground is doing is totally irrelevant. It gets its thrust by pushing air behind it. The wheels only exist to reduce friction on the ground. This is why planes on skis and pontoons can take off without wheels: Because the ground is irrelevant.

The only question is, again, this: Can the UNPOWERED wheels withstand twice the speed of a normal takeoff? If not, the wheels break and the plane does a belly scrape. If they can, the plane takes off with ease.
 

KK

Lifer
Jan 2, 2001
15,903
4
81
Originally posted by: Citrix
Ok, after much thought I Concede. The plane will take off.

It must have been that new guy "uselessengineer" that made you change you mind. :p
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Originally posted by: uselessengineer
Okay. 19 Pages for this topic and it just goes back and forth.

A plane's wing works through the means of air pressure. A wing provides lift because as it sails through the air, the pressure on the underside of the wing is greater than that over the top side of the wing. Lift is created. If the wing does not move, then the pressure differential will no develop and lift is not created.

If there is a plane creating thrust, and unless there is sufficient counter force provided on the wheels (which there isnt), then the plane will gain velocity until sufficient airspeed is obtained to lift off. Matching the plane's wheels velocity would do nothing but increase the rotational velocity on the wheels.

Bottom Line: A plane cannot use a treadmill to take off, unless you lock the wheels on the treadmill and propel the plane forward with it (catapult the plane to the airspeed required).:shocked:

If anyone wants do take the time to do a free body diagram try this:

Take a 747 for example. Based on the weight, tire size, etc. you can calculate the normal force and the dynamic friction coefficients of all the landing gears if they were sliding and not rolling; ie: brakes applied.

Even in this condition, you'd see that the force of the engines thrust is far greater than the sum of frictional forces provided by all the locked up landing gear tires combined.

Provided the landing gears were balanced such that no torque is induced on the body of the plane as it moves forward with locked up brakes (ie: and thus diving the nose into the ground, steering it off the runway, etc) the plane could easily take off.

Then consider the rolling friction in the bearings, metal on metal with lubricant, with the wheels freely spinning. At any given velcity, rolling friction in a axle bearing will always create far less frictional drag than sliding friction of rubber tires on asphalt.

Therefore if we compute that the planes engines have more forward force than the friction from locked up tires, clearly the wheels rolling at high speed is even less of a problem, this includes treadmills.


 

PaperclipGod

Banned
Apr 7, 2003
2,021
0
0
Originally posted by: loic2003
Originally posted by: Phokus
can someone explain the conundrum plz?
You have a large treadmill/conveyor belt. It matches the speed of wheels, so if you put a car (or any vehicle that moves by physically turning it's wheels) and drove forward at 10mph, the mill would automatically move at 10mph in the opposite direction, so viewing the car from the side would show that the car doesn't actually move anywhere dispite it's wheels turning.

Then you take an airplane, and put that on the conveyor. Some idiots couldn't figure that planes use thrust to move, so wheel speed is irrelevant (think planes with skids for landing on snow or water). As the thrust of the plane moved it forward, the conveyor would try to keep up, but would always be slower than the aircraft's wheels since the plane is moving forward. Theoretically, the conveyor speed would increase (exponentially?) until the aircraft took off.

It really highlighted some serious idiots who thought planes had powered wheels or that the speed of the wheels made a difference to the thrust of the aircraft (bearing resistance has been ignored in this example).

But because the speed of the treadmill increases slowly, the treadmill will act on the wheels by pulling the plane backward. You cant just ignore bearing resistance. So when the plane has revved up to 200mph, the treadmill is pulling backwards on the aircraft at 200mph. It wont go anywhere.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,351
19,518
146
Originally posted by: PaperclipGod
Originally posted by: loic2003
Originally posted by: Phokus
can someone explain the conundrum plz?
You have a large treadmill/conveyor belt. It matches the speed of wheels, so if you put a car (or any vehicle that moves by physically turning it's wheels) and drove forward at 10mph, the mill would automatically move at 10mph in the opposite direction, so viewing the car from the side would show that the car doesn't actually move anywhere dispite it's wheels turning.

Then you take an airplane, and put that on the conveyor. Some idiots couldn't figure that planes use thrust to move, so wheel speed is irrelevant (think planes with skids for landing on snow or water). As the thrust of the plane moved it forward, the conveyor would try to keep up, but would always be slower than the aircraft's wheels since the plane is moving forward. Theoretically, the conveyor speed would increase (exponentially?) until the aircraft took off.

It really highlighted some serious idiots who thought planes had powered wheels or that the speed of the wheels made a difference to the thrust of the aircraft (bearing resistance has been ignored in this example).

But because the speed of the treadmill increases slowly, the treadmill will act on the wheels by pulling the plane backward. You cant just ignore bearing resistance. So when the plane has revved up to 200mph, the treadmill is pulling backwards on the aircraft at 200mph. It wont go anywhere.

Wrong.

The wheels simply need to be able to withstand twice the speed they normally do at takeoff. If the minimal bearing friction of twice the speed is able to keep a plane from moving, than the friction from normal speed would keep it from taking off.

Why is this so hard for people to understand? What the ground is doing is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: Amused
Wrong.

The wheels simply need to be able to withstand twice the speed they normally do at takeoff. If the minimal bearing friction of twice the speed is able to keep a plane from moving, than the friction from normal speed would keep it from taking off.

Why is this so hard for people to understand? What the ground is doing is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant.

And as stated in the problem the plane simply cannot advance. Impossible. Can't happen. If it did then it doesn't obey the rules of the scenario/problem.