I have a science question for anyone that knows the answer. Here goes...It is my understanding that an airplane wing produces lift because of the pressure difference on the top and bottom of the wing and this pressure difference is caused by having a different shape on the top and bottom of the wings. My question is how do wings that are symmetrical produce lift? It is a dorky question, but it has always been a subject that I have pondered. Thanks!

Interesting approach. You ask a question and at the same time insult anyone who knows the answer by calling them dorks.

Your understanding of how wings produce lift is not correct. The answer to your question is "angle of attack".

Steve

Bit stiff, Steve. Let's just assume that the question is dorky.

Especially seeing that the topic has been debated at considerable length at least three times in the past year on this board alone.

Josh, the answer is already here...use the "search"function....please?

I took it that it would be a stupid question to ask, not an insult...so with that, it is more the angle of attack than the shape. Most of the time, that is true for flat bottomed wings. As stated, do a search and you will find tons of info.

We did this to death in a recent thread. Check it out. 67 replies analyzed it beyond measure....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...l+airfoil+lift

Using the terms "symetrical airfoil lift" in the search feature as keywords turned up a lot of other posts too.

You'll also notice that my dorky reply was number 3...

It's NOT a dorky question. To someone that's only been exposed to the classic Berneulli (sp?) theory it's far from obvious.... unless you used to stick your hand out the car window and pretend it was an airplane wing.... Mother nature's adaptive human airfoil.... the pinky makes a pretty good flap D

Thanks for the link BMatthews it provided a nice visual explanation. I didn't mean to anger or insult anyone by calling it a "dorky" question. I was just curious about how it worked. Sorry if I upset anyone.

Josh,

A wing definitely produces lift by creating lower pressure on the top than on the bottom. You can take this to the bank, whatever else you hear or read. Shape is not the only characteristic of the wing that helps to create the pressure difference. As has been pointed out, the lift depends on the angle of attack as well. Conceptually, you can think of a symmetric wing at a non-zero angle of attack as a non-symmetric wing. The air that goes above the wing 'sees' a different shape than air that goes below. This is because the angle of attack causes the flow to make the over or under decision at a point that is not on the center line ( causes the stagnation point to move, to use some fancy words ). Appealing to this conceptual view, you can see that the 'shape effect' is available to us on a symmetric wing as well.

banktoturn