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Q.How does an aeroplane take off?

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✓ Free question

Faster air above the wing ⇒ lower pressure above ⇒ net upward lift.

An aeroplane's wing is an aerofoil (Fig. 2.37): streamlines crowd over the curved upper surface, so the air there moves faster than the air passing beneath. By Bernoulli's principle (§2.9) the faster upper stream is at LOWER pressure. The pressure difference Δp acting over the wing area S gives an upward force — the dynamic lift ≈ Δp·S. As the aircraft accelerates down the runway both speeds grow, the pressure difference grows with them, and at take-off speed the lift exceeds the weight: the plane leaves the ground.

✓Final answer

The aerofoil wing makes air travel faster over its curved top than below; by Bernoulli's principle the pressure above drops below the pressure underneath, and this pressure difference across the large wing area produces the upward dynamic lift that, beyond a certain runway speed, exceeds the plane's weight — and it takes off.

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