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Re: Misconceptions: Physics of Flight



At 04:55 AM 8/10/99 +0800, romanza wrote:
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.

I have no idea how to do it without mentioning circulation. One can
however get pretty far while
* not mentioning the technical definition of circulation,
* instead, just drawing pictures of circulatory flow, and
* not requiring the Zhukovsky (aka Joukowski) theorem.

Here it is; let me know if it meets your needs:
http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/how/htm/airfoils.html