Can an airplane takeoff from a treadmill?

[Bookman]

If the treadmill was moving infinitely fast, wouldn't gravity and friction mean that the plane wouldn't go forward?

 

[rtchorn]

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[mia1994]

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[netslave]

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[mia1994]

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[netslave]

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[mia1994]

You know, I wonder if people would still have a problem with this if you were talking about a helicopter instead of a plane... because it is the same principal.

In any event, the problem is in the question, not with the logic of the people answering it. The question itself is wrong. If the treadmill were capable of cancelling out the forward motion of the plane, then the plane would not take off... everyone agrees with this. The problem is, that in the real world the ground is not the reason the wheels spin. It is the prop which moves the plane, the wheel is just along for the ride.

 

[Bookman]

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[utexas_61]

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[Bookman]

Because.

 

[madscientist]

treadmills create their own friction with their workings as well. i don't want to live in a world where we can have a frictionless treadmill but not a frictionless airplane wheel.

 

[HornGrandioso]

To paraphrase Kurt Cobain:

I hate this thread and I want it to die.

 

[Huckleberry]

Apparently we're not allowed to ignore the real world effects of friction even though they're negligible with respect to the thrust of the engine but we're required to ignore the real world effects of infinite velocity, which obviously greatly surpasses the speed of light.

 

[netslave]

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