How do airplanes actually fly? - Raymond Adkins

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As an aerospace engineering graduate, this pretty much sums up what you learn in basic aerodynamics. And because of we still don’t know how it happened, we used a lot of coefficients (which is derived from experimental methods) to account for them

I will continue to believe that it is magic.

To summarise: "A wing doesn't work by accelerating the air over the top because a wing works by accelerating the air over the top. And engineers use equations that are unsolvable to solve their problems."

Funny thing is, when I joined high school my aviation teacher tried to teach how a plane gets lift. 6 months later, I hadn't grasped a thing. Decided to drop the subject. Fast foward to 5 years later and after watching 1 youtube video, I grasped the concept and haven't forgotten it 10 years later. Sometimes teachers just need to be creative with their teaching.

As an aerospace student, I adapted the policy of, if it works it works

Dang this ISN’T Wendover Productions?

Regardless of airfoil, if the air is deflected downwards, you have lift. A flat board at the proper angle can produce lift just fine.

I am more confused after watching this video.

How does centripital accelaration increase the wind velocity(2:16)?

I had heard the common "wrong" explanation so many times, so I accepted even though it didn't completely make sense to me! This was a fantastic video, thank you!

As a student going through Aerospace Engineering, this is a very good introduction to lift. We learn about a bunch of models and methods to determine lift. I believe it is the circulation model that relates to the Navier-Stokes equations. Its a very interesting model and I encourage anyone interested to look into it!

2:10 Centripetal acceleration doesn't change speed, it just changes the direction.

wow i'm absolutely amazed, i'm not really an engineering student or anything but i've had a really big interest in aircraft and the engineering behind them for years, the fact that i didn't even properly know how a wing worked is kinda crazy to me

Crazy to think that we actually have no definite answer to the question „how do planes fly“ and yet we just trust that it’s gonna happen every time we take off in one

As a physicist and a practical person I have always believed in experiment. On a sail we use pieces of wool to determine the air flow. You pull the sail in until the downwind wool starts to flutter ( aerodynamic stall) then back off just a little. Keeping at that point gives the maximum "lift" ( in this case forward force) which helps us to win races. On my sailboard the centreboard is symmetric. In a straight line it has no lift. But as the wind blows it effectively moves the boat at a slight angle to the forward direction. Now the centreboard generates great lift and opposes the motion. Meaning I don't get wet. So the angle of attack is the key component in this application not the curve of the board.

Hi Ted-Ed I was wondering, On timestamp 2:07 you present a diagram of centripetal acceleration on the nose of the wing. It shows force arrows pointing away from the center of the curvature. Doesn't centripetal acceleration have force directed towards the center of the curvature? I was confused since centrifugal force is directed outwards. Is this a typo, am I overcomplicating things, or am I completely wrong?

I remember during my aerospace engg degree- a senior professor was teaching us aerodynamics - and he asked the class why is there high velocity on the top of the wing- I and many of classmates quotes that because the air particle have to cover a longer distance- after hearing this, prof corrected us and gave the above-mentioned reason

Top notch animation as always.

"The force you feel in a sharply turning car [arrows showing movement towards the outside of the curve] " is centrifugal force. Centripetal force is the force directed towards the inside of the turn, causing the acceleration of the car. Also, this video confuses turbulence with flow separation. They are very different things and aeroplanes often have vortex generators to induce turbulent flow as it delays flow separation.