Have you ever thrown a frisbee? It flies as a result of four forces. The same four forces help the plane to fly
Dikla Oren
https://www.hayadan.org.il/planeforce.html
Have you ever thrown a frisbee? It flies as a result of four forces. The same four forces help the plane to fly.
The four forces are lift, thrust, drag and weight. When a Frisbee flies through the air, the lift holds it up. You give the Frisbee a boost with your hand. The drag from the air makes it slow down. Its weight brings it back to earth.
You see them every day: airplanes, jets and helicopters, flying, buzzing and even making noise in the sky. We may take flight for granted; But knowing the physical principles behind it gives us a better understanding of the wonders of cruising in the air.
Wings keep the plane in the air, but the four forces are what make it happen. They push a plane up, down, forward or slow it down.
Thrust is a force that moves the plane in the direction of its movement. It is created with the help of a propeller, jet engine or rocket. Air is drawn in and then pushed in the opposite direction. An example of this is a home hair dryer.
Drag is the force that acts in the opposite direction to motion. It tends to slow objects down. Drag is created as a result of friction and air pressure differences. An example of drag can be experienced if you take your hand out of the window of a moving car and feel how it is pushed back.
Weight is the force, created as a result of gravity.
Lift is the force that keeps an airplane in the air. The wings create most of the lift that the plane uses.
The way these four forces act on the plane makes it do different things. Every force has an opposite force that works against it. Lift acts in the opposite direction to weight. Thrust acts in the opposite direction to drag.
When the forces are balanced, the plane moves straight. The plane rises, if the lift and thrust forces are greater than the weight and drag.
If the weight and drag are greater than the lift and thrust, the plane descends. Just as drag pushes something back in response to wind currents, lift is upward. The air pressure is greater in the lower part of the wing, so it is pushed up.
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Physics expert
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