I get that the spinny fan like pulls it up but like how does it spin because if I theoretically have a massive fan that spun at extreme speeds will my house fly?
Plus why do helicopters need spinny things when literally every other thing that flies just has wings and an engine. Also if the fan spins why does it spinning pull it up like when it’s on the ground it stays still but when it’s in the sky u can like manoeuvre it 360 like what.
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So…if you have a wing moving through the air it generates lift. If you don’t move it fast enough the plane that the wing(s) are attached to can’t stay airborne. Put 2 or more wings onto a central spindle and spin it. This fan generates lift and the helicopter it’s attached to goes up. Put some powered joints where these wings are attached and you can shift the lift to go forwards, backwards and side to side. The problem with a big rotor like this is, if you are spinning something one way, the thing that is supplying the power will spin the other way. The way round this is to put a smaller rotor on the tail of the helicopter that will direct lift to the side to counteract this. By adding or subtracting power to this little rotor you can turn the helicopter left and right.
It’s more complicated than this but I hope it’s ok for ELI 5
The blades are shaped in a way that pushes air down. The blades are spun by the engine.
There are helicopters that have multiple huge blades and are used for transport. It depends how big your house is as to whether it could fly with a big enough blade, but probably not.
The way they move is the base of the blade pivots so the blades push the air in the desired direction. During takeoff they push the air straight down to allow the helicopter to rise.
Helicopters fly basically the same way planes do. Helicopter blades are shaped very similar to airplane wings. Air moving across the shape creates lift. An airplane gets air moving across the wings by moving forwards. A helicopter gets air moving across the blades by spinning them through the air.
The rotor works basically like a boat’s propeller, except pointing upwards. The blades are angled, so they’re essentially constantly corkscrewing upwards to lift the helicopter up.
You could of course make anything fly with that, providing you have enough power and tensile strength.
As for the reason, a constant upwards lift gives them better maneuverability. They are mechanically much more complicated than planes are, but a plane also needs to move forward for the wings to generate lift, so it can’t hover around a spot or take off vertically. If you’re, say, trying to lift an injured hiker off the face of a cliff, you really do not want to try doing that with a plane and a close flyby.
The rotor gives it upwards lift, but since it’s rotating, it’s also constantly twisting the helicopter around with it. With no counteracting force, it would just spin wildly along with the rotor, so you need some solution to avoid that. The classic one is to just stick a smaller, vertical rotor on the tail to push against the rotation. Then if you want to turn left or right (also called yaw) you just make that small rotor spin faster or slower, but most of the time you want it perfectly counteracting the twisting force so that the helicopter stays still.
Helicopters fly basically the same way planes do. Helicopter blades are shaped very similar to airplane wings. Air moving across the shape creates lift. An airplane gets air moving across the wings by moving forwards. A helicopter gets air moving across the blades by spinning them through the air.
So…if you have a wing moving through the air it generates lift. If you don’t move it fast enough the plane that the wing(s) are attached to can’t stay airborne. Put 2 or more wings onto a central spindle and spin it. This fan generates lift and the helicopter it’s attached to goes up. Put some powered joints where these wings are attached and you can shift the lift to go forwards, backwards and side to side. The problem with a big rotor like this is, if you are spinning something one way, the thing that is supplying the power will spin the other way. The way round this is to put a smaller rotor on the tail of the helicopter that will direct lift to the side to counteract this. By adding or subtracting power to this little rotor you can turn the helicopter left and right.
It’s more complicated than this but I hope it’s ok for ELI 5
So…if you have a wing moving through the air it generates lift. If you don’t move it fast enough the plane that the wing(s) are attached to can’t stay airborne. Put 2 or more wings onto a central spindle and spin it. This fan generates lift and the helicopter it’s attached to goes up. Put some powered joints where these wings are attached and you can shift the lift to go forwards, backwards and side to side. The problem with a big rotor like this is, if you are spinning something one way, the thing that is supplying the power will spin the other way. The way round this is to put a smaller rotor on the tail of the helicopter that will direct lift to the side to counteract this. By adding or subtracting power to this little rotor you can turn the helicopter left and right.
It’s more complicated than this but I hope it’s ok for ELI 5
It’s called rotary wing.
Helicopter has wings that are rotated around to simulate the work of plane wings. These are the blades of the main rotor.
There rear fan is the same but is there just to counter the torque of the main one.
Generally, you spin the thing at 100% speed all the time, and you change the wings (fan blades if you like) angle to go up or down.
You can apply differential angle to left-right and front-rear wings to give lateral and longitudinal control. (Nose up and down, and roll left or right). Example: blade can be lifting 10 when passing in the rear, 8 when is right, 6 when is in the front, and 8 on the left; in this turn around the rotor the blade has lifted the helicopter but also forced the nose down. How to actually connect the pilot stick to this system is one of the pricey pats fo the helicopter, and need a dedicated one hour lesson to understand properly.
You can change the angle of the rear fan rotating wings to increase or decrease its force, hence rotate the heli on the yaw axis (nose to the left nose to the right)
Note that the whole thing is massively inefficient and worth using only if you don’t have a runway for a plane. Approximately, you need three times more engine power than a plane with the same capacity.
It’s called rotary wing.
Helicopter has wings that are rotated around to simulate the work of plane wings. These are the blades of the main rotor.
There rear fan is the same but is there just to counter the torque of the main one.
Generally, you spin the thing at 100% speed all the time, and you change the wings (fan blades if you like) angle to go up or down.
You can apply differential angle to left-right and front-rear wings to give lateral and longitudinal control. (Nose up and down, and roll left or right). Example: blade can be lifting 10 when passing in the rear, 8 when is right, 6 when is in the front, and 8 on the left; in this turn around the rotor the blade has lifted the helicopter but also forced the nose down. How to actually connect the pilot stick to this system is one of the pricey pats fo the helicopter, and need a dedicated one hour lesson to understand properly.
You can change the angle of the rear fan rotating wings to increase or decrease its force, hence rotate the heli on the yaw axis (nose to the left nose to the right)
Note that the whole thing is massively inefficient and worth using only if you don’t have a runway for a plane. Approximately, you need three times more engine power than a plane with the same capacity.
It’s called rotary wing.
Helicopter has wings that are rotated around to simulate the work of plane wings. These are the blades of the main rotor.
There rear fan is the same but is there just to counter the torque of the main one.
Generally, you spin the thing at 100% speed all the time, and you change the wings (fan blades if you like) angle to go up or down.
You can apply differential angle to left-right and front-rear wings to give lateral and longitudinal control. (Nose up and down, and roll left or right). Example: blade can be lifting 10 when passing in the rear, 8 when is right, 6 when is in the front, and 8 on the left; in this turn around the rotor the blade has lifted the helicopter but also forced the nose down. How to actually connect the pilot stick to this system is one of the pricey pats fo the helicopter, and need a dedicated one hour lesson to understand properly.
You can change the angle of the rear fan rotating wings to increase or decrease its force, hence rotate the heli on the yaw axis (nose to the left nose to the right)
Note that the whole thing is massively inefficient and worth using only if you don’t have a runway for a plane. Approximately, you need three times more engine power than a plane with the same capacity.
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