ORIGINAL: MHester
Just as a fast and dirty example, if you were to make the general statement "a 74" wing snaps better than a 78" wing". All things being equal, true. But if the tip chord of the 78" wing is small enough, it may indeed snap better than the 74" wing. However, you might run into serious tip stall if your taper ratio gets too wild, and that opens yet another can of worms.
-Mike
I'll bite.... WHY, exactly, does a 74" wing snap better than a 78" wing? Is the snap in the stall, or in the rotation? Where does wing area/planform come into play... or leading edge radius? And yes, I do know that I've asked the million dollar question. (FWIW, I've got some great slo-mo video of a 45 inverted downline negative snap with my 3D.) Personally, I feel the answer lies in the power; how much kinetic energy is the model carrying when it ceases to actually fly, compared to it's drag, which is not totally dependent on wing span. Most current 2M planes with the 160DZ will snap way better than an Atlanta with an OS61 (pre-Hanno). The Atlanta (Aurora knockoff) is much smaller than 2M. So, what's the deal? (If you survive this one, we can discuss upline/downline 'snaps')
Just when you thought you had gotten off lightly, Mike!
Brian