Wing Lift
Once the air from the top passes below the plane of the wing and catches sight of the spooky skulls, it panics, which is the cause of turbulent vortices.
Once the air from the top passes below the plane of the wing and catches sight of the spooky skulls, it panics, which is the cause of turbulent vortices.
This comic is a parody of the incomplete explanations given to physics students on how wings produce lift. Specifically, it parodies the equal transit-time fallacy, which states that the air flowing above the wing and the air flowing below the wing have to travel from one side of the wing to the other in equal time, so the air above the wing has to travel faster to keep up with the air below. This assumes that the air above the wing is somehow conscious of what the air below the wing is doing. This assumption of consciousness is taken to extreme parody by the comic, suggesting that the bottom air can be frightened by skulls, that the top air is curious to see what's going on, and that air can panic. In real life, this is not the case.[citation needed]
Wings can produce lift,[1] i.e. an upwards force with which an aircraft is held in the air. One or more of three main reasons may typically be given as to why airplane wings produce lift:
- Bernoulli's principle (Perhaps the most frequently cited/demonstrated as a basic introduction to wing-physics.)
- Angle of attack (The airplane wing angles up so that air is deflected downwards, by the 'ski effect'.)
- Coandă effect (The top is curved, so air going over the wing must curve downwards in order to avoid creating a vacuum above the back of the wing, and by Newton's third law, this results in an upwards force on the wing.)
The comic references all three of these reasons. Airflow splitting references Bernoulli's principle, while the air at the bottom being scared and fleeing downwards is similar to the effect of air hitting the angled bottom of the wing. The air going over the top curving down references the Coandă effect, although the comic claims that this effect is instead caused by the top-air noticing the bottom-air fleeing downward and goes down to investigate why the bottom-air is fleeing. The mention of Newton's third law is indeed correct, even if the movement of the air is for the wrong reasons. In the title text, it additionally suggests that the top-flow also end up glimpsing the printed skulls, causing it to also chaotically flee, generating a wing's classic turbulent wake.
Randall previously dealt with explanations of wing lift in 803: Airfoil.
- ↑ Tietjens, Oskar Karl Gustav; Prandtl, Ludwig (1957). Fundamentals of Hydro- and Aeromechanics. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-60374-2