RCU Forums - View Single Post - Why do people say the top of the wing causes the plane to fly?
Old 09-29-2008, 03:28 PM
  #158  
Rocketmagnet
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Default RE: [Deleted]

Thanks Rock for keepin it clean. I didn't get to see what got started, but thanks.
Sorry everyone. That was me getting over excited.

I'm still baffled about this wing causing more lift on the top side than the bottom.
But you understand that the lift is caused by a pressure difference, right?

You could either increase the pressure on the bottom of the wing, or you could decrease the pressure on the top. Or both.

If, by magic, I could just increase the pressure on the bottom of the wing, and that lifted the plane up, I would say that it was the higher pressure on the bottom which was doing the lifting.

Likewise: if, by magic, I could just decrease the pressure on the top of the wing, and that lifted the plane up (it would, imagine sucking on a straw), I would say that it was the lower pressure on top which was doing the lifting.

Indeed, when one sucks on a straw, one talks about the low pressure causing the drink to move. Even though both the high and low pressures are important, it's the low pressure which is different from the ambient pressure. That's the bit that's really changing, and that's the bit that considered the cause.

The same goes for the wing. The top side tends to feel much more of a drop in pressure than the bottom feels an increase. It is the low pressure area which has changed most significantly from the ambient pressure. (see the pressure diagram a couple of pages back).

Hugo

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