• Question: how do aeroplanes stay in the air ?

    Asked by anon-200922 to Rosemary, Oliver, Leigh, Jordan, Hannah, David on 6 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Oliver Gordon

      Oliver Gordon answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      The air travelling under the wings push them up with more force than gravity can pull them down.

      If the plane isn’t moving, no air flows under the wings to push them up, and the plane stops flying – this is why you can’t stop a plane in midair!)

    • Photo: David Walker-Sünderhauf

      David Walker-Sünderhauf answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      What Oliver said – also, the airplane’s wings are designed in a shape so that when you blow air against them, it takes longer to travel along the bottom of the wing than along the top. This creates a pressure difference, which is why the air pushes the wing up! I think airplane wings were originally designed from looking at bird wings – nature did it first 🙂

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