In describing the Bernoulli effect to high school students I invariably
get stuck on one particular question and I wonder if someone can help
give me the "high school" words necessary to answer this question.
When looking at the cross section of a wing, I have always said that the
air flow under the wing (which is a relatively flat surface) is slower
than the air flow over the top of the wing which is curved. The
question from them is "why isn't it just as likely that he air over the
top of the wing does not speed up and simply takes a longer time to
travel the longer distance over the curved section of the wing?".
Any assistance would be welcome. Thanks, David Abineri