I know, I was just pointing out or making it clear that there is no "IF" aspect in this situation. Wheels will never move the plane, ever. WWR, you ready to change your mind?
It depends. What kind of plane is it? If it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol, it will fly.
Watch closely and see if the band takes off. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pv5zWaTEVkI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pv5zWaTEVkI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
All motion is relative, and the only motion that matters in this case is the speed at which air is flowing over the wings. To put it another way, if you were to tie the plane down in a hurricane with high enough wind and suddenly release the plane, you could take off even though the plane is stationary relative to the earth. Birds do it all the time.
I'm an aviation enthusiast too and I have never taken a physics class either. However, i do know that airplane propellers/jet engines do not generate lift. They generate thrust, which causes the plane to move forward. The forward motion, creating low pressure on top of the wings and high pressure on the bottom is what generates lift. If there is no forward motion relative to the static air around the wings, there is no lift. In this scenario, the treadmill effect is negating the forward thrust produced by the engines/prop. Therefore, the plane is not moving forward in relation to the static wind around it. So it is impossible for lift to occur.
I don't see how it could take off. It's not moving. Put it this way. Imagine if the tires were stuck in some mud or something. They could move as fast as they wanted, but they're not going anywhere and hence wouldn't generate any lift. If this magical treadmill can match the speed of the plane, it's not doing anything and shouldn't take off. And I don't see why engines make a difference. They are there to generate the speed necessary for the lift to occur.
"Ain't no thing." = "I do." (ok, so I quoted a sequel quote. ) WHEELS - the wheels are there to make the airplane slide. WINGS - the wings are there to dissect the air into a leverage between weight of the airplane against the force of the air. ENGINES - the engines are there to make air flow faster through the outside of the airplane body The engines will just be fans if there are no wheels or if there is not a runway (minus the conveyor belt). In LEXUS commercials, where they are inside of a vacuum, and there's air flowing through and showing how there is less drag over the car, the car would take off if it had wings, but it is because there is air OUTSIDE of the car flowing. In the case of an airplane, if there is enough WIND aside from the engines' power, the plane will take off. If MYTHBUSTERS adds air flowing, the plane will take off.
I think because the plane's movement is not dependent on the wheels contact with the ground, in this scenario the plane would still move, the wheels would just be spinning faster while they were in contact with the conveyor belt. Therefore, lift would be exterted on the wings and the plane would take off. Think of it like this. It's almost as if the plane is sitting on a frozen lake, with no wheels. Once the jet engines are powered up, it will move across the surface of the lake until it reaches the velocity to lift off.
I understand the question better than you do. The resistance of the wheels on the belt or of the wheels spinning on their axles is going to neglible compared to the power of the thrust from a jet or an airplane propeller. Just as the resistance between the body of a plane sitting on a sheet of ice would by neglible compared to the thrust of a jet or propeller. This resistance in both scenarios is the only thing that would hold the plane back from moving through space. The plane is going to move in relationship to a fixed point not on the conveyor belt. And it will lift off.
That's my argument right there. If there's no additional wind supplied by the Mythbusters, then the plane goes nowhere. If they somehow generate enough wind/windspeed, then the plane takes off. I once went up in a little prop plane with some friends, and while we were flying over lake travis, the pilot flew directly into the wind and cut off the engine. We stayed in the air and didn't lose any altitude because the headwind was strong enough to keep us up. Airflow's where it's at.
No additional wind needs to be supplied. The plane will move relative to the earth. It will lift off.
will not take off. however, if you place a fan infront of the treadmill then maybe... (depending on the speed of the air from the fan/lift created/weight)
Like someone said before, the plane takes off but the wheels are moving twice as fast. There is lift because the plane is moving relative to the earth. For the plane not to move, force equal to that of the engines would have to be acting on the plane from the opposite direction. The example of a tredmill is an AWFUL example. Both Cars and the Human body use static friction to move forward. We don't create force on our bodies to move like a plane does. You can think of a tredmill but you have to imagine you are wearing roller skates as you are on top of it. (roller skates has loose wheels like a plane would) Imagine you were in an airport terminal. Your friend is on rollerskates on one of those moving horizontal escalators and you are standing next to him but you are on the side of the escalator. Now the escalator starts out off. You reach over and start pushing him in one direction with your hand. You keep your hand on him and walk with him down the path keeping him in constant motion. Now once the escalator turns on, does your arm jerk backwards? No because no force is enacted on your friend's body. The force (your arm) is independent of the relative motion of the ground underneeth your friend much like the jet engines are independent of the ground. Both your arm and the engine always create force in those situations. You don't need to know anything about airplanes, you just have to understand basic motion physics. The plane moves down the runway exactly as it does in normal takeoffs. The wheels just move twice as fast.
