The plane will lift off twice as fast -- many of you are forgetting to take into account the statistical mechanics of interacting systems along with the Theory of Plane Transitions.
If the plane will take off on the conveyor, then it should be reasoned that the conveyor has no bearing on take-off.... whether it impedes or helps.
I am going to call an Exorcist to kill this thread once and for all!!! IN A NUTSHELL: The 'riddle' is poorly presented, because the parameters of the 'experiment' are not rigidly defined. And that's important, because it directly affects the outcome. There are two possibilities: 1) If the parameters require that the 'treadmill' be able to completely NULLIFY all forward motion granted by the rotation of the wheels, NO MATTER HOW FAST THE WHEELS TURN, then the plane WILL NOT TAKE OFF. In other words, in this scenario, the treadmill NEGATES all forward motion. 2) If the parameters require only that the 'treadmill' simply IMPEDE the progress of the plane, but do not entirely nullify the forward motion of the plane on its wheels, then the plane is able to break free from the grip of gravity, and with the plane's engines working on the AIR and no longer the GROUND, the plane WILL TAKE OFF, rather easily in fact. All of this endless debate is a direct result of the poor presentation of the 'riddle', and a general lack of understanding of the physics involved from the vast majority of the people bandying it about.
This thread will remain active at least until Mythbusters FINALLY shows their segment dealing with this.
I used to agree with you on this, but after thinking about it more and more, I don't think scenario #1 can actually happen.
Once mythbusters show the results, this thread will OFFICIALLY become the "What was wrong with the Mythbusters experiment to cause the result."
Of course it couldn't actually happen. There's no way such a 'magic treadmill' could ever be constructed, or work. The only way to truly test a true negation of forward movement would be to chain the plane to a wall, but it really wouldn't be much of an experiment, then, would it? In fact, There seems little point to even trying this thing out. Unless this 'magic treadmill' manages to totally negate all of the plane's forward motion, the plane WILL take off, no question about it. Actually trying to 'bust this myth' is about as necessary as trying to prove that water is wet. We already know that only one of two things can happen, and we already know exactly why either result would happen.
You wouldn't even need the "magic" treadmill. You could set the treadmill to go twice as fast as the plan top ground speed of the plane. The plane would still move forward, create lift, and take off.
A lot of myths that are tested on the show are pretty obvious in their conclusions before even being tested, but it's still fun to watch them prove/bust it.
See Cannonball's response right under yours. Wouldn't the plane be able to move regardless of how fast the treadmill is moving?
Did you ever see the episode where they tested if you could be shot by a bullet if you were underwater? Awesome episode, imo.
You know I think I've seen just about every single episode, multiple times...def a good one, especially when they went up to the big boy guns.
Yeah, that experiment blew my mind, especially considering that shooting at someone under water is in a ton of action movies.
Magic treadmill? Who needs a magic treadmill. Let's put this baby to bed. All you need is a regular treadmill, a "vehicle" with free rolling wheels and a propulsion system on top of the vehicle that can "simulate" thrust provided by the jet engine...in this case, an engine that uses with a wheel resting on a tethered rope to provide thrust from the friction. It coule be a chain and sprocket...it doesn't matter. Set the "jet engine" to 1 mph and set the treadmill to 1 mph in the opposite direction. If the "plane" moves forward at one mph, bump it up another until you realize that the plane will take off.
Back from the dead and straight from the horse's mouth... Get ready folks...airplane on a conveyor is coming! http://dsc.discovery.com/video/?pla...013704&lineupId=1283221956&titleId=1347908538
Yeah, I saw it on the previews. It's supposed to air on the 30th, two weeks from tonight. They said it was never supposed to air during the "airplane hour" but due to a mistake, whoever wrote the episode synopsis said that it was. But never fear, the segment WILL air in two weeks.
