From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 00:38:30 -0500
Hi all-
Romanza asks:
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Many texts give the explanation for lift of an aerofoil --- that the distance travelled by air on the upper surface is greater than the lower surface, and hence air must travel at a faster speed in order to "catch-up" with air on the lower surface.
This is quite a common misconception in explaning lift. But can someone enlighten me on how to give a more correct version without involving technical details like circulation, Joukouski Theorem etc.
Thanks.
romanza
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Since there is a pressure difference that supports the airfoil, and since
the Bernoulli effect is very accurate (especially at low Mach numbers), why is
this a misconception (limited to your precise statement)?
Regards,
Jack
"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography