MythBusters airplane on a conveyor belt

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
WingFlaps wrote in news:ddef2011-7cca-4e5e-b5a8-
:

On Jan 31, 12:34 pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Jan 30, 1:36 pm, Peter Clark

wrote:
For those interested in such things, the MythBusters show titled
"Airplane on a Conveyor Belt" is in TVGuide to air tonight at 9pm
Eastern US on Discovery/Discovery HD.
Yea, I had the TiVo searching for it for the last few weeks. I see
that its set to record soon (I never actually pay attention to when a
show is on anymore). I'm looking forward to it. To me the interesting
part will not be the experiment but the premise. Do some believe that
an airplane generates lift as a result of the speed of the wheels?
-Robert
I'd be interested in knowing whether they can detect the actual lift
derived from the wheels spinning as the plane lifts off...


Well, you could do it in a wind tunnel!
There was a time in the 30's when a rotating cylinder was seen as the
future of the wing. I think maybe even a few were built! I'm pretty sure I
have an old Popular aviation with a few pics of a fairly unsucessful
prototype..
But a little spinning wheel isn't going to give you much..

Bertie
Actually you can still do it. I used a spinning cylinder all the time in
my discussions on aerodynamics. It makes a perfect example when getting
into lift. A cylinder not rotating in a free stream airflow has no lift
as the stagnation points are neutral. The airstream flows over the
cylinder equally; no Bernoulli...no Newton.
Now spin the cylinder clockwise to the airstream. Walla......instant
lift! You get it all in one simple demonstration. You get upwash and
downwash. That's circulation. (Newton) You get increased local velocity
over the top of the cylinder and decreased local velocity under it.
That's Bernoulli!
The whole shegang is Magnus effect. It's a wonderful way to get into
wings, golf balls, curve balls...the whole magilla :-))


--
Dudley Henriques