Well, the question on page one says nothing about negating forward momentum or keeping the plane stationary. It simply asks, if the treadmill matches the plane's speed in the opposite direction, would the plane take off? And the answer is yes.
That's the story those who were wrong are giving. Please answer me here: why did you say the belt was not moving fast enough if the whole time you believed that the question was asking if the plane could take off without moving forward? Answer that specificaly.
The problem with people understanding in my opinion is the fact that people don't seem to realize that the plane moving forward really doesn't rely on the wheels on the ground like a car. They explain that at the end of the first video and it really helps put things into perspective.
Wow, you people really think that the conveyor belt really justified the experiment. It was so thin and unpractical, that guy put holes in it just jumping on top of it. Imagine a plane several times that guy's weight. Do you really believe that conveyor belt can even pull the plane at a standstill? No, the canvas would rip. You might as well remove the canvas because it's like trying to make a treadmill out of paper. Basically the canvas created no opposing force on the wheels. Myth unsolved and still continues...
Surface area has a lot to do with that. Try to cut a potato in half with a knife. Now try it with a stapler. Also, he was moving his feet up and down while the tires on the plane kept constant contact. Your logic is weak.
You totally missed my point and your comparing apples (treadmill) to oranges (knife). I was pointing out that there's no way that canvas can serve as a medium for such a treadmill. There is no equal and opposite force in that experiment. It's the plane pushing off the ground when it should be the plane pushing off the treadmill (which is clearly nonexistent) on the show. If the plane isn't even stationary relative to the ground, then it won't take off. Of course, you can't prevent a plane from taking off with a real world treadmill. But the question was a hypothetical one.
A plane doesn't "push" off the ground...a plane lifts; as in the "thrust" created by the engine generates "lift" which allows it to fly. If there was no treadmill...or conveyor...then what was that huge material being dragged by a truck driven by Jamie that was moving in the opposite direction of the plane.
How are people still arguing about this? They did a great job showing that the plane would take off both on the small scale and large scale tests.
If there's not a 400lb woman walking on it while eating a Snickers and reading a People magazine, it's not a treadmill.
Yes, it's just money. It's your money and you can choose to spend it wisely or not. The opposite of wise is idiotic. Hey, if Chuck had $500 mil like Jordan , he can throw away $10 mil but I don't think he does. He does not even have $100 mil like you think he does. Why spend $100 on gas? Dude, do you think I'd like to do that? I have to. I wish we can ride bikes everywhere but it's not an option. Gambling is an option. I am a gambler but I know when to stop. That's the difference.
Fly Resurrection by: Peter O. Roach The trick consists of three parts. 1 – Catching a fly 2 – Drowning a fly 3 – Bringing the fly back to life The first problem is to catch a live fly. They usually don’t hang around the ritzy bars, but if you are reading this you probably don’t favor those establishments. If you are still reading – just catch a fly. We all know you have done it before. The second problem is how to drown the fly. Fill a sink with water and place a beer glass in the sink and shake all of the little air bubbles out of it. If you don’t get ALL of the bubbles out of the glass you will be amazed at how long a fly can live off of small bubbles. Invert the glass and place your hand with the fly under the glass. Open your hand and the fly will float up to the top of the beer glass. Leave it in the sink until you are certain the fly is dead (usually about 20 minutes). Betting note – if you are placing wagers on this trick the fly must be drowned in plain tap water. No soap, chemicals, or other additives. Also the water needs to be about room temperature – not hot. Take the fly out of the glass being careful not to smash him. Lay the fly out on a paper napkin and show everyone in the place that the fly is dead. If anyone doubts you place the fly back in the water until they agree he is dead. Now that the fly is dead insist that you give him a proper Christian burial. Cover the fly with salt. You can even make a small headstone and have someone say a few words about what a great fly he was. I usually insist that we all drink a round while giving toasts to the fly’s 1,000,000,000,000 surviving relatives. Anyhow you need to wait at least 20 minutes before exhuming the fly from his final resting place (the longer you wait the better). The salt will have crusted over the fly. Break the salt away and the fly will come out as good as new. Once in England I did not have to buy myself a drink for a week off of this trick. Peter O. Roach
Lol I think I posted somewhere earlier, but I like thinking about this so I'll post again. The original post says "The conveyor has a system that tracks the speed of the plane and matches it exactly in the opposite direction." If this means the conveyor belt goes the standard flight speed of 550 MPH backwards and the plane tries to take off, then the plane will indeed fly for the reasons repeated many times in this thread. However, a lot of y'all seem to believe that the other interpretation (that the conveyor moves backwards in a way that keeps the plane stationary) is not physically possible. Short of the plane having frictionless wheels, I would disagree. Let's talk about friction. If you wore rollerblades on a conveyor belt and just stand there, you will move backwards. This is because there is some friction between the wheels and their axles such that 100% of the force applied to the wheel by the conveyor belt does NOT go to spinning the wheels. Some of it (who knows, let's say 5%) turns into a horizontal force on the axles which moves your rollerblades and consequently you backwards. Similarly, a stationary plane will move backwards on a conveyor belt. Without frictionless wheels it's kinda crazy to imagine it staying still. There is a backwards horizontal component on the plane from the conveyor belt via its wheels! Sound good so far? The question then becomes can a conveyor belt where only 5% of the force goes into the horizontal backward component counteract the thrust of the engines? Much confusion arises because of the difference between velocity and acceleration/force. It is correct that even if the conveyor belt is going 10,000 MPH backwards, the plane will eventually take off because the plane engines are accelerating the plane forward whereas the conveyor is not applying any acceleration/force since it's moving at a constant velocity (any force is just overcoming friction). However, if the conveyor belt is accelerating backwards, then 5% of the force is converted to backwards horizontal acceleration which could match the forward force of the plane's engines. I believe the reason that experiments can't capture this is because it would take a crazy conveyor belt to be able to accelerate in a manner such that the small component of it that contributes to backwards horizontal acceleration exactly matches that of a plane's engines. However, it could be done with a powerful enough conveyor belt!! Isn't it fun to argue against folks who think the opposite side is obviously crazy and devoid of reason?
The answer is NO. Your rollerblades going backward on the treadmill stops as soon as the inertia is broken. Imagine someone is pushing you on the rollerblades (that's the engine thrust). The treadmill can go as fast as you like -- but you will move forward. If it goes super super fast, the friction might burn up the wheels (and I guess the fire might impede your progress) but it will never counteract the forward force, since the force is against the surrounding air rather then the conveyor. (the guy pushing you forward on the treadmil is standing beside the treadmill -- so he pushes you forward regardless of how fast the treadmill spins).
