Jim Beckman wrote:
At 18:22 17 March 2009, Bob Whelan wrote:

Yebbut...imagine a glider magically inserted into earth's atmosphere
after global warming has removed all grabbity. What gets it moving?

It won't move. Why would it?

Jim Beckman

Indeed. But I find it easier to magically insert the glider than to
magically turn off gravity. That's why my chicken has a soft landing
place for her eggs.

And being 100% non-facetious in this paragraph, it appears some folks'
misconceptions may have been clarified to various degrees as a result of
this thread...put me in the camp that believes clear thought is a good
thing. Once a person grasps the essential role of gravity in powering
sailplanes, the lifty bits become distinctly easier to grasp, despite
the pesky intrusion of (ahem) plane geometry into resolving resultant
forces.

Regards,
Bob W.