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Xirgil | 2 years ago

Do you have any recommended reading on this topic? I'd like to brush up.

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bouchard|2 years ago

Understanding Aerodynamics: Arguing from the Real Physics by Doug McLean, a former aerodynamics Technical Fellow at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

po|2 years ago

Bill Beaty's site was the one that opened my eyes to these misunderstandings: http://www.amasci.com/wing/airfoil.html

If the diagram shows lift but doesn't show the air being directed downward after leaving the tailing edge of the wing, I basically stop reading. That's the whole thing.

onetimeuse92304|2 years ago

Thank. You. That's exactly what is missing and that's exactly what I have mentioned in my... highly criticised comment. It just shows how pervasive the misconception is.

If you take a step back there is a simple way to think about this. In order for the object to stay up there, there needs to be equal and opposite force from some other body. What is that other body? It is the mass of air that is being directed in the opposite direction of the lift force acting on the plane.

p_l|2 years ago

There used to be a good one from NASA, written for K-12 but 100% adhering to actual science not "lies for children".

EDIT: This is a good starting point for the frankly awesome material from NASA Glenn Research Centre: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/a...

Unfortunately it partly bitrotted due to using java applets for interactive demos, but I think most of it is still reachable - I'll try to find it later when I'm at the desk.

Personally I learnt from a 1980 book that was still part of mandatory reading for glider pilot course in Poland in 2005.