This episode is on MythBusters right now… 10:00 - 11:00
This was quite the heated discussion on this and many boards…
Just thought some of you would like to tune in.
im watching it now, it wont work…
lol saw this episode a while ago
i kinda figured it would work cause the wheels dont move it
hahahahaha. sweet, they used an s15 rc car. lol
no, if it was a car it would work, but a plane, no, because the wheels may be moving but the air is not. soooo yeah…
lol the plane flys, it’s not powered by the wheels and thus is doesn’t matter if it’s on a convery belt.
i think it does need wind to make it go up though…
lol newbs, the propeler pulls it through the air, it does the exact same thing it would do on a nomal runway only the wheels spin faster, i’ve seen this episode before anyways and it works
oh damn it worked! hah
I don’t understand how thats possible. never watched the episode so someone is gonna have to tell me if its a joke.
the real question is,
WILL IT LAND?
How whats possible? that it takes off? The wheels are completely independant of the plane, free-spinning. The props move air the same way it would if it wasnt on a conveyor. You can watch the part of the episode on youtube.
too lazy too look it up. but in theory this would NOT work. the wheels are not used in the propulsion system, its all about air creating a small vacuum above the wing creating lift.
if they made it work, they broke my brain.
The plane took off. I cant tell which side your arguing, it sounds like your arguing on the right side but i cant tell for sure, lol.
i’m arguing that it should not work.
The propeller pulls the plane, and with the wheels spinning free it allows the plane to move.
Nothing is stopping it from gaining force under the wings.
The only difference in the conveyor belt situation, is that the wheels are moving at a higher pace, but still freely.
The plane does not just lift off the ground from the spot, it actually gains momentum and force to take off the belt, just as it would normally.
makes sense now. when I pictured this experiment I saw it as the plane staying stationary and the conveyor moving freely below it.
THAT would not work at all 100% unless it was a Harrier jet, but thats cheating.
yea but the plane was moving forward faster than the conveyor was moving backwards
a plane needs lift to take off
is a plane is standing still, there is no lift, so it WONT take off
on the show it wasnt tested properly
and i dont care what anyone here says… my dad use to build planes for boing …
Think it works the same on almost all planes as long as there’s some sort of turbine or propeller, but it really depends on conveyor speed and length in the end. If the speed of the conveyor matches the speed from the max thrust of the plane through the wheels, the plane should remain stationary. Or if you have a free spinning frictionless conveyor setup that should do the trick too.
Once the speed of the plane wheels rotate faster than the conveyor, the plane starts displacing and moves forward, also starting to generate lift. At this point it all comes down to conveyor length and amount of grip available between the tires and conveyor belt I guess. I haven’t seen the show yet either but I’m assuming the conveyor was fairly long for the given size of plane?
Peter, with the propeller pulling the plane, it WILL move faster than the conveyor belt. It will move at the exact same speed as it would normally take to take off.
The belt does nothing, other than making the wheels spin faster than they normally would.
It would be like holding a toy car, and spinning the wheels with your hand. No matter how fast you spin the wheels the toy car will still move the same speed, or none. The wheels are only there to allow free movement for the plane and keep the body from resting on the ground.