Presented here is a very simple physical model of flight that relies only on Newton’s second law and yet is able to reproduce all the salient features of a more rigorous fluid dynamical treatment. From a pedagogical point of view the model helps understand the origins of lift and drag in terms of forces rather than pressures, and enables all the important points to be made without recourse to complicated mathematics.
Topics
Newtonian mechanics
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© 1998 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1998
American Association of Physics Teachers
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