Ok...so we can have a car that's moving at 10mph relative to the ground on a conveyor that's moving -10mph relative to the ground, thus satisfying the riddle. The car will be going 20mph relative to the conveyor...but that is irrelevant.

If you don't get it, go to an airport and run against one of those moving walkways. Let's say it's moving at 3mph. I can bet you any amount of money that I can run on that conveyor (in the opposite direction) such that if you shoot a radar gun at me it will say 3mph. I might have to move my legs twice as fast, but that's beside the point.

 

not this bullshit again

car != plane... therefore your theory = lose


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yes reno, this was resolved... the people who said no understood why it would take off

 

you moron, what your not getting is that it's not static.

it will speed up as you speed up, get on a tredmil and start walkign and have somone increase the speed as you speed up, see how far you get

 

You all right man?


So the treadmill will keep accelerating away from me while I keep moving my legs faster and faster trying to accelerate away from it...but I stand in place. Kind of like this....




Well, that is not the situation the riddle is describing, because the treadmill cannot move from right to left unless I move from left to right. See that car in the .gif? It is not moving dude. Its velocity is 0. I don't care if its speedometer says 1000000000, if it doesn't go from left to right it is NOT moving. Just because I'm standing in place and my legs (or wheels) are moving does NOT mean I have a forward velocity.

If the car cannot move, it opens up the possibility that the treadmill is not moving, the car is not moving...but the wheels are moving. How can that be?

 

negative on that. I am a mechanical engineer so I guess that helps. In order for takeoff the plane has to create lift in a positive Y direction which only occurs when the plane is moving in a X direction which is forward at a certain speed. Once its going fast enough relative to air it will create enough lift upward for the plane to takeoff. Being on the conveyor belt totally defies the purpose of movement relative to air. In order for anything fluid dynamic to work you need a medium/flluid and in the case of a plane it is air. Anyways that should explain it.

 

You signed up to post this on a dead thread? :gtfo:

 

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.

 

im personally not seeing how that would work... yes it would matter on airspeed, but thats assuming your allowing the plain to GAIN any airspeed, if it's unable to get ground speed then it can not get airspeed, im not HARD on my decision that it can't im just confused i guess

 

I like the mythbusters idea myself, it would be........interesting to see all of these theories at work.

[quote=MarshyTheKid]Theres only one way to find this out.....Mythbusters!!!!! Or someone get a toy plane and a way to test it on a grocery store belt..

 

i have no idea wtf is going on, but this is sweet shit right here