http://www.kottke.org/remainder/07/11/14429.html Don't anyone dare get into a discussion on this. It's happened on a couple of threads before, so go find them. It's going to be interesting though. IT TOOK OFF! HA!
I was amazed to see that in the end there are still people who dont think that the plane can take off. but if they have done it, then there will be no denying the proof. Only thing that I am worried about is that mythbusters will screw something up, and get the wrong results.
It's actually a really simple question with two answers, one more obvious than the other. The obvious answer, to anyone who knows how airplanes work, is that the plane will take off perfectly if the treadmill is matching the speed of the plane. The less obvious answer requires a treadmill capable of accelerating indefinitely. If the treadmill is matching the speed of the wheels rather than the fuselage, then the wheels and treadmill will both accelerate at an insane rate and friction in the wheel bearings will prevent the plane from moving relative to the stationary ground. In that case, the plane will not build any airspeed (remember, the wheels are going 10x the speed of light but the fuselage and wings aren't moving) and will not take off. Of course, for a treadmill to be capable of such speeds and accelerations, it would have to be indestructible and either infinitely powerful or massless and frictionless. Because it seems like cheating to apply a normal airplane with all its mass and friction to such a fantastic treadmill, this isn't really an acceptable solution to the problem. It's just something interesting to throw into these discussions. Due to the difficulty in sourcing unlimited-speed treadmill components, I assume Mythbusters will prove the airplane can take off. I hope so, but I also know Mythbusters has screwed up similarly obvious problems (setting things on fire using mirrors to concentrate sunlight works just fine, but the first time the Mythbusters tried it they failed).
Spot on crazybob The difficulty I see is with keeping the plane "stationary" I just dont think they can match the speed of the plane with it and if the air isn't going over the wings fast enough there won't be enough lift generated. prediction: the plane will just run down the conveyor belt and off the end with the wheels goin mega fast
Another thing in a similar vein I'd like to see mythbusters do is build some sort of endless slinky machine to try the whole 'slinky + escalator = endless fun' thing. Should be interesting either way
The plane would take off. Unless the conveyor was moving so fast the friction of the wheel bearings provided a force backwards equal to the prop's force forwards, whereupon they'd probably friction weld, jam, and send the plane shooting backwards down the conveyor
Remember, not to discuss whether or not it will take off. That one always ends up in someone writing an essay.
I'll parrot everyone else. Given frictionless wheels the plane will indeed take off. Anyone else here who disagrees is probably an idiot.
And the exact, precise wording of the question. Unfortunately for such a nifty problem, it very quickly comes down to a tiny little difference - does the belt match the plane's forward velocity, or does it match the wheels' rotational velocity?
Jesus Christ. Anyone who even uses 2 brain cells with this problem can see that with standard wheels the plane will definately take off. Either way, mythbusters will probably say that it's possible... They often don't explore a myth to its logical conclusion, or use wholly inappropriate tests. (Did anyone see the one where they tried to prove the myth about being sucked down with a sinking ship? The tug boat was the size of a postage stamp...)
considering the that the treadmill and the plane are fictitious.... then i think the plane would fly, i say this because if the bearings are perfect and frictionless, the wheels accelerate instantly and the treadmill runs to infinite speed, without the engines providing thrust then the plane would be stationary, the wheels would be spinning at infinite speed but the plane would not budge because there is no friction on the wheels to make it go anywhere, its like trying to walk on the worlds most perfect and frictionless ice sheet. considering only the plane real real, as in friction on the wheels, infinite speed on the thread mil.... etc then i think the plane would have more difficulty in taking off, the engines would still have to beat an infinite grow in inertia (in the rotations of the wheels) and the friction on the wheels. considering both real.... there would be some difficulty in the beginning... but the thread mil can only go so fast and eventually the plane would fly of easily. but that is my 2 cents so no flaming please..... edit: cant wait to see how the mith busters will do this