#156166 - 11/11/0709:31 AMRe: Airplane on a treadmill question
Anonymous
Unregistered
infx, The problem does not state that the plane matches the speed of the belt, it says that the belt matches the speed of the plane.
"Relativity" has fuck-all to do with it. No E=mc'2 here.
The casual observer not on the conveyor would watch the plane take off as any other plane on a normal runway would.
The conveyor cannot keep the plane in place because it exerts force only on its wheels, which rotate to negate friction.
A plane with its gear locked up, if it powered up, would move forward on a fixed surface. It would not be smooth, but it would move. Trust me. Now is that more or less friction than the conveyor acting on free spinning wheels?