Jump to content
The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Plane on a treadmill


Thorin

Recommended Posts

By not sitting on the spot on a treadmill?:blink:

 

This thread is gonna turn into a long one

 

I can't figure out why though. The people that don't know, are the doubters. The people that do, are telling the doubters why. Yet they still doubt lol.

 

I think Thorin summed it up nicely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 131
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

He's right though Gaz. If you could create enough wind you could get any plane to take off without actually moving as long as it was anchored.

 

he didn't mention a treadmill.

 

Yep, the Science museum has (or had) a display like that. Plane fixed on a rod and a fan blew, up goes the plane.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what are you saying about the helicopter though? are the blades spinning or is the whole thing sitting there spinning around on this cool turntable?

 

Well I guess it could be either that the turntable is spinning in the opposite direction to the blades at exactly the same speed as them, or that the blades aren't spinning at all but the turntable is spinning around at the required speed the blades would need to turn to lift off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Helicopter wouldn't take off if it was rotating in the opposite direction and at the same rate as the blades. It would basically appear that the blades were standing still therefor generating no difference in thrust.

 

Hovercraft wouldn't lift either as if both thrust and suction forces were equal there wouldn't be any left over to actually lift it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Helicopter wouldn't take off if it was rotating in the opposite direction and at the same rate as the blades. It would basically appear that the blades were standing still therefor generating no difference in thrust.

 

Hovercraft wouldn't lift either as if both thrust and suction forces were equal there wouldn't be any left over to actually lift it.

 

Yeah i can agree with the helicopter one. Right thats that one done and dusted. Whats next?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah i can agree with the helicopter one. Right thats that one done and dusted. Whats next?

 

One from the IMOC forum. Is it possible to drive onto the back of a lorry, as in knightrider, without shooting through the back of it? If you are travelling at 40mph and the lorry is doing 30, when you get into the lorry what speed will you be doing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I'm still not convinced about the helicopter one, I think it would take off regardless of how the turntable was spinning. The body of the helicopter will move with the turntable so to the blades, the effect will be that the helicopter is on still ground.

 

Are any of our budding model helicopterists willing to give this a go with a record deck? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These things always do, quite good fun, but some people to get very agitated! :)

 

Doesn't matter what speed the truck is doing, when the car gets in it, it will be doing the speed it was doing on the road. You'd need good brakes to stop before going through the end of the truck though.

 

Who's up for hijacking a car transporter and giving it a crack? Nobody with J-spec brakes though please :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One from the IMOC forum. Is it possible to drive onto the back of a lorry, as in knightrider, without shooting through the back of it? If you are travelling at 40mph and the lorry is doing 30, when you get into the lorry what speed will you be doing?
Relative to the lorry, 40mph.

Relative to the road, 70mph.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I'm still not convinced about the helicopter one, I think it would take off regardless of how the turntable was spinning. The body of the helicopter will move with the turntable so to the blades, the effect will be that the helicopter is on still ground.

 

Are any of our budding model helicopterists willing to give this a go with a record deck? ;)

 

Think about it. If you take a helicopter and spin it anticlockwise at 1000rpm and then spin the blades clockwise at 1000rpm to your eye the blades won't move but the helicopter will still be spinning anticlockwise at 1000rpm.

 

Doesn't need a test ;) Trust me, i'm a well erm... an engineer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One from the IMOC forum. Is it possible to drive onto the back of a lorry, as in knightrider, without shooting through the back of it? If you are travelling at 40mph and the lorry is doing 30, when you get into the lorry what speed will you be doing?

 

It's a 10mph difference so given that our cars can do 60-0 in 109 feet so a 25 foot trailer shouldn't be much of an issue from ten mph, but wouldn't you break something in the drivetrain in the transfer phase???

 

Helicopter is a good one :thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a 10mph difference so given that our cars can do 60-0 in 109 feet so a 25 foot trailer shouldn't be much of an issue from ten mph, but wouldn't you break something in the drivetrain in the transfer phase???

 

Helicopter is a good one :thumbs:

 

Yeah 10mph is the answer. THe drivetrain wouldn't be an issue as long as you dropped it out of gear or dropped the clutch (not sure how they did it with the auto).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG

 

How do you think a sea plane takes off?

FFS the same way as all other planes do, by moving forward at speed into oncoming air. Said air passes over the aerofoil shape of the wing, with the air on top of it travelling further than air on the bottom, therefor creating a low pressure area over the wing, causing lift :rolleyes::p

 

Hi 5 for Scotster lol. Plus if the chopper was spinning on Mikos cool turntable at 360 rpm the pilot will be in no fit state to fly anyway! 17 years working on planes and helicopters has taught me a thing or 2 lol. Also if it was possible why has nobody built a plane sized treadmill to test it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Relative to the lorry, 40mph.

Relative to the road, 70mph.

 

relative to lorry 10mph

relative to road 40mph

 

Won't quite be 10 or 40 though as you have to actually make it up the ramp. I think in most cases the 10mph would be lost on the way up the ramp so the car would have to either be driven up the ramp or the speed would have to be increased to make it accurate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think of it like a boat in the ocean. If you put a boat into a current it will move the boat the way the current is going. If you raise the sail and the wind is blowing the other way all you need is the amount of force created from the wind (thrust) to be greater than the amount of force created by the ocean (friction) and the boat will move forward.

 

Yes but the original problem states that - to continue your boat analogy - as the wind picks up, the current also picks up to compensate, so the boat remains stationary. It doesn't matter how hard the wind blows, the current matches speed to counter any forward movement of the boat.

 

The problem was not about whether a plane could take off from a treadmill running at a constant speed - which is why the oft quoted Mythbusters episode is moot; it can, it'll just need to generate more thrust than usual to counter the reverse action of the treadmill.

 

So back to the plane; as the engines produce thrust the treadmill increases speed so that - via friction or whatever - the reverse forces on the plane are the same as produced by the engine. As such, the plane remains stationary as the treadmill and wheels spin at silly speeds until the wheels overheat and fall apart!

 

I think there was some confusion over whether the treadmill countered the plane speed or the wheel speed. I saw it as the former.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. You might also be interested in our Guidelines, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.