Re: Airfoil lift, new article

[James McLean <jmclean@CHEM.UCSD.EDU>]

William Beaty wrote:
> See the message below.  Can you see the flaw in Mr. Scarfe's diagram and
> arguments?  It is two-dimensional!  In 2D, a wing can push on the distant
> ground instantly, since the air cannot escape in a direction out of (or
> into) the plane of the diagram.  Wing pushes down on air, air pushes down
> on Earth, Earth doesn't move.  Earth pushes up on air, air pushes up on
> wing, wing levitates without having to eject any KG of air downwards.
> Flight by "ground effect," with the altitude made irrelevant
I won't pretend that I could follow the quoted message, but isn't this
treating the air as an incompressible fluid?  In that case, the pressure
argument would be in deep kimchee too.

--
--James McLean
jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu
post doc
UC San Diego, Chemistry