Originally Posted by Lsos
Unfortunately, it does not.
I have heard answers to this airplane problem from physics professors, pilots, freaking NASA rocket engineers....fact is, no degree will help you answer this question. It's a simple question of a person's intelligence and ability to reason...not how many hours they spent in the classroom.
It seems that the more educated people are, the longer their explanations as to why it will not fly...with freaking coefficients of lift and drag and force vectors and shit. Hell, I'm surprised no one threw the theory of relativity in there to prove why it will not fly. Of course they then stand firm by this idea...after all, they are the ones with the degree so they must be right.
If there was one thing I learned in college, getting my degree in mechanical engineering, is that a degree has nothing to do with intelligence. Nothing.
The plane will fly.
This goes out to you again Mr. Philosophoer/Mechinical Engineer who cannot solve a high school level physics problem. How in earth is the plane gonna fly if its moving at zero speed relative to the ground. If the conveyor moves back slower than the plane and plane actually moves faster then it is possible that the plane will have a net positive velocity in the horizontal direction and therefore maybe if it gets enough pace it will create enough lift to ply. Dude have you not taken AERODYNAMICS? This is so simple. I notice you have bean arguing about this simple problem all throughout this post and when Im actually trying to give the real and practical answer to the solution you have to post something to criticize me when I am actually about to get a masters degree and I teach this stuff to my students. Dude Im a freakin TA in my Rigid Body Mechanics class. I tell you what you dont have to believe me take this problem to your physics professor who deals with newtonian mechanics and he will tell you. For everyone else who hates arguing and dragging this thread on you can read all the arguements against the plane flying and actually make some sense out of it. and if you guys still dont believe me go to
www.howstuffowrks.com and read about how a plane flies and there that shoulod do the trick. I hate it when people try to criticize others that are actually trying to help out just to make themselves feel better. What kind of engineer are you buddy? You need to go read up on physics 1, 2 and take all of your dynamics classes all over again that means, rigid body, dynamics, solid mechanics, aerodynamics. Good luck with that!