Ok I'm gonna throw my two cents in..... Its a bit of a trick question. It doesn't matter how fast the magical, runway long conveyor belt ends up going going. Even if it was going a 500 miles an hour in the opposite direction to the plane, the wheels would simply spin faster as the thrust of the jet engines moved the plane forward.
wow, i was really looking forward to hear the results. the good healthy debate in the first 6-7 pages really hyped this one up for me. what a bummer.
From the Mythbusters site: "We're truly sorry for the TV schedule error and assure you it was a missed update on our end. Please forgive us! 'PoCB/PoaT' will air in a future episode..." -- Discovery.com 'PoCB/PoaT' I'm guessing means "plane on a conveyor belt/plane on a treadmill." http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html
How much wind is going over the wings? (You were smart enough to register for clutchfans, you should realize that is zero) If no air goes over the wings, you can't generate lift. If that would work don't you think they would have saved millions on the cement bill when creating airports?
HA! Yeah, one thing about inanimate objects like runways is that they don't have moving parts or electronics so they don't malfunction. Also, if you're capable of following the arguement of those saying the plane would take off, the conveyor belt would have to be the length of a runway anyway so what's the point. Besides, even if it made sense to take off from a treadmill instead of a traditional runway, it wouldn't make much sense to LAND on one.
Air will go over it's wings, just not in the way you think. You think the treadmill is actually capable of making of negating the planes forward motion. It's not. It can try to match the speed of the wheel but since the wheels don't propel the plane forward like they do on a car, it really makes no difference. The plane will still move forward through space just like it would on a normal runway. Air will still flow around the wings like it would on a runway and the plane will take off.
Air is going over the wings, because the plane is moving forward, because the wheels aren't attached to a drive train or anything that would require the wheels to be moving the plane forward in order to move. The plane takes off. The conveyor belt has little to no effect on the airplane. I'd be a bit more cautious throwing around the "if you were smart enough to..." type comments, when if you were to just stop and think about it, read through the posts that explain why the plane DOES take off, you'd easily get it. It's really simple once you have all the facts laid out in front of you, like has been done so many times in this thread. It just comes down to not wanting to admit you were wrong.
I can't believe you guys still think that plane will fly -- you're not even taking into consideration the Doppler Effect.
When you run on a treadmill, is there wind blowing in your face? Answer: No. No forward direction = no air over the wings = no lift = no flying. It's pretty simple. The plane doesn't fly.
Its not about running on a treadmill though. Ok try this. Get a toy car and push it from the back to the front of a stationary treadmill (One thats not rolling). Now turn the treadmill on the fastest speed and do the same thing. Your still pushing the car forward and it still keeps moving forward on the treadmill now matter how fast the treadmill is going. Its the same concept expect you replace the car with a plane and your hand pushing the car with the jet engines. And because the plane moves forward...its gets lift. And now I hate myself because Ive posted on here twice!
Let's not forget this gem either: I swear to god dude, for someone who is insulting someone now and did so at the beginning of the thread, I would hope that you would at least read all of the other posts showing how wrong you are. Just like to shake off those "scientific explanations". Your response is, "No air". THERE ARE PAGES AND PAGES explaining in multiple ways how the plane actually moves but you have nothing to say about that right? You disappeared from this thread before once person after person gave their explanation as to why the thing takes off. No more guys. Read the thread. Anything you could have possibly said has already been said and argued about.
toy cars don't fly!!! you must not understand flight or the question. the question isn't will the plane roll? it's will it fly? and flight, in convential aircraft, requires high/low pressure on the wing to "lift" the wing and thus the attached body off the treadmill. the pressures are generated by pushing the plane through the atmosphere which causes air to move across the wing. the treadmill in this case is stationary. so unless you push the air over/under the wing in another way the plane will not lift. that's why a plane/model can fly in a wind tunnel. the object is stationary but you can cause the same effect by blowing the wind across the wing. look at it this way, let's say the example was a treadmill as long as convential runway. a plane with engines off or hell no engines at all is placed on the runway treadmill. the treadmill accelarates propelling the plane down the runway/treadmill. will the plane get off the ground even for the shortest millisecond? i think it will now if you ask will it fly? i think not. the second it leaves the runway it losses its propulsion and will set back down eventually to lift again while it regains the critical speed. that would continue until the end of the runway/treadmill. or how about this one... its a calm day no winds and your trying to launch a kite. your going to have to give it a good run to get that thing airborne. now same task but only on a windy day. not much running this time. anyway you look at it it comes down to one very important thing, air across the wing. if you dont have that you dont have flight.
Wow. Stationary plane. In EQUILIBRIUM. No lift. The normal forces of the wheels are equal to the weight since there are no other vertical forces. The wings have no air passing by to create any vertical forces. Dang, I just made an A @ clutchfans school of avation.
Don't bypass the question of the plan moving. It's been explained time and time again why the plane is propelling itself forward despite having the ground moving in the opposite direction. if you want to discuss this, please refer back to previous posts and cite reasons as to why that analysis is wrong. NO ONE WHO IS SAYING THE PLANE WILL FLY IS SAYING THAT THE PLANE IS STATIONARY. Dude, that is not the question at all. You really think that Myth Busters is going to send a plane up in the air and see if it crashes to the ground? Please cite all of the people that are denying this. No one is. Don't waste time proving a point that no one is disputing. Ok seriously, are you guys just reading the 1st post and skiping to the end to reply? Please read what has already been said. You are keeping alive a thread that has been discussed to death with posts that belong on page 1, not page 12.
