Consider yourself smart?

[Eoin247]

I put forward to you this age old question.


A plane is standing on a runway that can move (like a giant conveyor belt). This conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane's speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction).

Will the plane be able to take off?

Thinking about it > Searching on google

[MKR&*42]

I googled ;) and I found the "answer" and I was like o.O

But yeah, I sorta get it :(

I was really confused though xL

[Cypher-]

I guess it all depend's on the weather conditions for that day? As long as the plane can gather enough speed and exert enough thrust, with a good headwind it could achieve liftoff.

[Recursion]

At first, I thought it wouldn't move and thus there would be no lift to take off... if you think about it though, the engines use thrust to move the plane forward, not the wheels (like a car), so I'd have thought that the plane would still move forward due to thrust (thus gaining lift and taking off) and all the conveyor belt would do is make the wheels spin faster than usual...

[GirlNextDoor15]

Is this about Physics?
No imo. It wouldn't be able to take off. Is this thing related to resonance?
but i'll still google for the answer haha

[beth]

why does knowing this make you "smart". you can be smart in different aspects and this question bears no relevance to anything i will ever encounter in my life. this just makes you a smart arse.

[Chippiewill]

I've already seen it on mythbusters, so I already knew the answer, it is an interesting question though.

[Mathew]

No I don't think it would because they would simply cancel each other out.

I say this because on the flight back from Chicago in October, I watched a MythBusters episode where they drove a pick-up truck at 30mph, whilst putting a bag of sand on a treadmill (going in the opposite direction) at 30mph. It was found that the sandbag simply dropped straight down behind the truck, as the two forces cancelled each other out.

Edit: oh nice taste in television, Chippiewill.. ;)

[buttons]

why does knowing this make you "smart". you can be smart in different aspects and this question bears no relevance to anything i will ever encounter in my life. this just makes you a smart arse.
exactly. you can be smart in one thing and not another. you can have lots of knowledge but no common sense, i don't see how this can show any of those two.
answer: idk and i don't really care either

[Recursion]

No I don't think it would because they would simply cancel each other out.

I say this because on the flight back from Chicago in October, I watched a MythBusters episode where they drove a pick-up truck at 30mph, whilst putting a bag of sand on a treadmill (going in the opposite direction) at 30mph. It was found that the sandbag simply dropped straight down behind the truck, as the two forces cancelled each other out.

Edit: oh nice taste in television, Chippiewill.. ;)

The plane isn't driven by it's wheels though, it's driven by thrust, which exists whether the plane is on the conveyor or not.

[GirlNextDoor15]

http://centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/four_forces/DI24G1.jpg

[N!ck]

Yes, it certainly would be able to take take off provided it was able to take off with a still runway. The only slight (almost negligible difference comparative to air resistance) thing would be extra resistance from the wheels.