Letrun.com was right...the plane DID take off!

hold the phone wrote:

Well, you certainly managed to misunderstand everything I wrote. Sadly, I doubt that typing it again will improve your chances of understanding, but let me at least point out that "matching the plane's speed" could conceivably refer to either ground speed or air speed, and that failure of wheel bearings has nothing remotely to do with the wheel friction I'm referring. Yes, wheels have friction, even when the bearings are working perfectly -- and that's why the length of the treadmill matters, because distance it takes the plane to reach take-off velocity will depend crucially on the how much of an affect friction has on the plane's initial acceleration.

However, feel free to ignore all of that, as you're clearly one of those people who is incapable of seeing more than one side of an argument.

Eh, I agree with boredman here. The original problem is not ambiguous. You have to assume that the frame of reference is the Earth, whether it's ground speed, air speed, whatever. To assume otherwise is needlessly complicating a simple question.

To all of you who do not get how this works:

Here are some notes to explain

1. The plane is pulled forward by it propellers, hence the name "propellers"

2. The wheels are a completely different system. Simply connected for braking sake, and to lessen/eliminate ground friction.

3. When the brakes are off, the wheels can go as fast as the ground.

The plane will be pulled forward by the propellers, not the wheels, and the wheels will spin with the ground, unaffected by the ground, treadmill or not.

For those of you who got that but were smart enough to make scientific arguments:

Heres the only situation that really holds any water:

"The plane is stopped on the treadmill. The treadmill suddenly jumps up into a high speed, or is sped up while the brakes are on, THEN the plane tries to take off"

Now the ground has a effect due to inertia. If the treadmill is consistently going MANY times faster than the plane can go forward, and the treadmill continues to speed up, going faster than the wheels can spin (mechanical friction would make it so they would not spin at any speed instantly, some force must be provided) the force of inertia at the beginning, and the friction of the wheels on the treadmill being constantly slower MAY cause the plane never to reach any forward motion, meaning no take off.

But even that requires a "Magical" treadmill, and realistic everything else

(That theory is full of holes, if I wrote it out so it all makes perfect sense, it would be huge, so please don't kncok it, any of you who understand physics well hopefully get what I am getting at.)

But even that, is ONLY A THEORY on how to stop the plane from taking off with a treadmill, and it may not work either way...

Best of luck in understanding

^o^

Blaze