The Airplane-Treadmill Argument – ANSWERED!!

September 9, 2008
By

Airplane/Treadmill Argument

?Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyor belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?

Airplane on Treadmill

Initially it seems apparent that the airplane would take off, however the question has a few different things to consider. Will the action of the airplane’s engines move the airplane forward event though the treadmill is moving backwards?

When you get right down to it the question at the heart of this riddle is whether the airplane moves forward? If the airplane is able to move forward it can generate airflow over its wings which will cause lift thus allowing the plane to take off. If the action of the treadmill keeps the airplane in place there is no airflow and therefore no lift.

So would the airplane be stationary on the treadmill or would it move forward?

Airplane tires are typically speed rated to around 225 mph. So even if the airplane engines are able to generate enough force to move the plane forward, thereby creating some lift; the airplane would never be able to achieve the take off speed off 150mph because the tires would have exploded long before. So the final answer is that the airplane could not take off due to the tires exploding. Once this happened – given the premise the treadmill moves at the speed of the tires – the treadmill would either stop (or explode), but in either case the airplane would not take off.

Tags: , ,

One Response to The Airplane-Treadmill Argument – ANSWERED!!

  1. blaggerbob on March 5, 2009 at 12:23 am

    So will the plane move forward at all?
    After the wheels go “Bang!”, won’t the engines push the plane forward still?
    Assuming the treadmill does not explode, will it still be moving?
    The very first airplanes did not have wheels but simple skis, and they had barely a fraction of the engine force that a 747 has.
    I hope your Landice LS treadmill is more durable than Boeing 747 wheels. ;)

You might also like

New High School Exit Exam New High School Exit Exam, you only need 4 correct out of 10 questions to pass. (Passing...
Annoying Airline Passengers What to do on an airplane when you find yourself seated next to a nosy jerk: 1. Take out your laptop. 2....
Ole, Lena, and Lars Lena called the airlines information desk and inquired, "How long does it...
The Lawyer and Stewardess A lawyer boarded an airplane in New Orleans with a box of frozen crabs and asked a blonde stewardess...
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes