If you didn't know, somehow the misinformation that mythbusters was going to finally figure out this thought experiment (or rather air the results) tonight was spread about, but it will be actually aired on January 30th (I think 9pm EST). The basic premise is this. If you have an airplane on a treadmill moving the airplane at a rate exactly equivalent to the rate at which the plane accelerates, will it take off?
At first I thought it won't because of the lack of lift generated by motion of the plane through air. However, I'm relatively certain that the turbines will suck in air and cause significant lift. Whether the plane or the fluid (air) is doing the moving doesn't matter, but in the case of the turbine, significantly less air would be traveling over the wings much slower than if an airplane were traveling through stationary air at some 100s of mph. It seems to me that the question becomes whether or not this lift is enough to just barely lift the airplane of the ground, allowing it to move forward since its thrust is no longer counter-acted from the treadmill. I have no idea as to the magnitude of the lift caused solely by the air sucked in by the turbines or required to lift the airplane, though.
The moving air caused by the speed of the treadmill may play a role as well.
What does everyone else think?
At first I thought it won't because of the lack of lift generated by motion of the plane through air. However, I'm relatively certain that the turbines will suck in air and cause significant lift. Whether the plane or the fluid (air) is doing the moving doesn't matter, but in the case of the turbine, significantly less air would be traveling over the wings much slower than if an airplane were traveling through stationary air at some 100s of mph. It seems to me that the question becomes whether or not this lift is enough to just barely lift the airplane of the ground, allowing it to move forward since its thrust is no longer counter-acted from the treadmill. I have no idea as to the magnitude of the lift caused solely by the air sucked in by the turbines or required to lift the airplane, though.
The moving air caused by the speed of the treadmill may play a role as well.
What does everyone else think?