what is the difference between propeller pitch and chord length?
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Repost from another deleted post.
Difference: cord length is a length, prop pitch is an angle.
Cord length is determined to strike a balance between power, size and efficiency, it is fixed once you’ve determined it.
However the prop pitch is usually variable. Once the aircraft starts moving forward, incoming airflow go into the prop, effectively reducing its angle of attack, which works like the pitch is reduced.
Therefore to maintain thrust, either you increase prop RPM, which has a limit before the prop tip reaches the speed of sound and loses efficiency, or increase the actual prop pitch, maintaining the effective pitch.
This is why almost all prop aircraft has adjustable prop pitch, the ones that don’t are the cheap and slow basic GA aircraft.
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