My best friend is a pilot and I have no idea what he’s talking about. I understand other aspects of physics but this really is hard for me to wrap my head around.
In: Physics
Lift is just the name we give to the upward force that is generated by the wind moving across the wings of an airplane. An airplanes wings have a very particular shape, where they are slightly rounded at the top and flat on the bottom. This causes wind to move faster across the top of the wing than across the bottom when the airplane is moving forward. Because faster moving air has a lower pressure than slower moving air, the wings get pushed by the higher pressure and pulled by the lower pressure, so they experience an upward force we call lift.
When you’re in a car driving fast, stick your arm out the window, and tilt your hand at various angles. (With someone else driving.)
You’ll feel the wind pressure on your hand, which can be thought of as a horizontal push backward and a vertical push up or down. The push backward is called “drag”, and the vertical push is called “lift”.
The same thing happens on a much bigger scale with the wings of an airplane. In steady flight, the thrust of the engine is sufficient to balance the drag, and the lift is sufficient to balance the weight of the plane.
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