Registered: 23/03/01
Posts: 1906
Loc: San Jose, CA
Quote:
Originally posted by Rockaholic: Since the coeffecient of friction between 2 objects is constant, if the wheel bearing friciton is high enough to prevent the plane from taking off on the conveyor, it's high enough to prevent the plane from taking off on a runway - which violates the assumption that the plane would take off on a normal runway
But the coefficient of friction on the wheel bearings isn't constant. As the bearing grease heats up, its lubricating ability changes. And the ability of the tires to stay in one piece depends on how fast they can rotate. Let's say that a particular model of aircraft achieves liftoff speed at 120mph. For cost purposes, they install tires with a speed rating of 180mph, well above the speed the airplane might ever need when taking off or landing.
However, on the conveyor belt, the tire speed would be 240mph, exceeding the speed rating of the tire, and.... KABOOM! Blowout!
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