ELI5, If a large passenger jet was trying to take off on a free spinning treadmill, would it take off?
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There are too many unanswered and undefined variables to give a simple yes/no answer. What is the coefficient of friction between the treadmill surface and the plane wheels? Is there friction within the landing gear wheel bearings or do they spin freely without friction?
The energy/force of the engine thrust has to go somewhere. It either goes toward acceleration of the airplane’s mass, in which case it goes airborne, or it gets fully canceled out by friction losses in the bearings & surface of the wheels in the form of heat and the plane remains stationary with regard to the ground and air.
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