Man has always dreamed of flying in the sky. Remember the story of Icarus and his son? This, of course, is just a myth and we will never know how it really happened, but this story fully reveals the thirst to soar in the sky. The first attempts to fly into the sky were made with the help of a huge balloon, which is now more of a means for romantic walks in the sky, then the airship appeared, and with it, planes and helicopters later appeared. Now it is almost no news or something unusual for anyone that you can fly in 3 hours by plane to another continent. But how does it happen? Why do planes fly and don't crash?
The explanation from a physical point of view is quite simple, but it is harder to implement in practice
For many years, various experiments have been carried out to create a flying machine, many prototypes have been created. But to understand why airplanes fly, it is enough to know Newton's second law and be able to reproduce it in practice. Now people, or rather engineers and scientists, are already trying to create a machine that would fly at colossal speeds, several times higher than the speed of sound. That is the questionis no longer about how planes fly, but how to make them fly faster.
Two things for an airplane to take off are powerful engines and proper wing design
Engines create tremendous thrust that pushes aircraft structures forward. But this is not enough, because you also need to go up, and in this situation it turns out that so far we can only accelerate along the surface to great speed. The next important point is the shape of the wings and the body of the aircraft itself. It is they who create the uplifting force. The wings are made in such a way that the air below them becomes slower than above them, and as a result, it turns out that the air from below pushes the body up, and the air above the wing is unable to resist this effect when the aircraft reaches a certain speed. This phenomenon is called lift in physics, and to understand this in more detail, you need to have a little knowledge of aerodynamics and other related laws. But to understand why planes fly, this knowledge is enough.
Landing and takeoff - what is needed for this car?
A plane needs a huge runway, or rather, a long runway. This is due to the fact that he first needs to gain a certain speed for takeoff. In order for the lifting force to begin to act, it is necessary to accelerate the aircraft to such a speed that the air from below the wings begins to lift the structure up. The question of why planes fly low concerns precisely this part when the car takes off.or landing. A low start makes it possible for an airplane to rise very high into the sky, and we often see this in clear weather - regular aircraft, leaving a white trail behind them, move people from one point to another much faster than can be done using land transport or sea.
Aircraft fuel
Also interested in why planes fly on kerosene. Yes, basically it is, but the fact is that some types of vehicles use the usual gasoline and even diesel fuel as fuel.
But what is the advantage of kerosene? There are several.
First, perhaps, we can call its cost. It is much cheaper than gasoline. The second reason can be called its lightness, in comparison with the same gasoline. Also, kerosene tends to burn, so to speak, smoothly. In cars - cars or trucks - we need the ability to abruptly turn on and off the engine when the aircraft is designed to start it and constantly keep the turbines moving at a given speed for a long time, if we talk about passenger aircraft. Light-engine aircraft, which is not designed to transport huge cargoes, but for the most part is associated with the military industry, with agriculture, etc. (such a car can only accommodate up to two people), is small and maneuverable, and therefore gasoline is suitable for this area. Its explosive combustion is suitable for the type of turbines used in light aviation.
A helicopter is a competitor or a friend of an airplane?
An interesting invention of mankind, connected with movement in airspace - a helicopter. He has the main advantage over the aircraft - vertical takeoff and landing. It does not require a huge space for acceleration, and why do planes fly only from seats equipped for this purpose? That's right, you need a sufficiently long and smooth surface. Otherwise, the outcome of the landing somewhere in the field may become fraught with the destruction of the machine, and even worse - human casu alties. And helicopter landings can be made on the roof of a building that is adapted, in a stadium, etc. This function is not available for an airplane, although designers are already working to combine the power and speed of an airplane with vertical takeoff.
