Aeroplane & Cloud Mysteries: How Planes Pass Through Clouds

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Airplanes can pass through clouds without visibly disturbing them due to their aerodynamic design, which minimizes air disturbance, similar to a diver entering water with little splash. However, jet engines do create thrust and produce vortices at the wingtips that can lead to turbulence, which dissipates slowly. When multiple aircraft are in close proximity, they must maintain a safe separation to avoid dangerous turbulence caused by these vortices. While the air inside a cloud may be turbulent, this disturbance is not visible from the ground, as clouds obscure visibility. Overall, the interaction between airplanes and clouds involves complex aerodynamic principles that often go unnoticed.
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Why is it that an aeroplane can travel through a small cloud and the cloud does not seem to have been disturbed.
 
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Why would the cloud be disturbed? Airplanes are designed to be aerodynamic: aerodynamic means not disturbing the air.

It's like a skilled diver diving into a pool but making very little splash.
 
russ_watters said:
Why would the cloud be disturbed? Airplanes are designed to be aerodynamic: aerodynamic means not disturbing the air.

It's like a skilled diver diving into a pool but making very little splash.

There is still the thrust from jet engines.
 
Well, they are disturbed a little.
 
wolram said:
Why is it that an aeroplane can travel through a small cloud and the cloud does not seem to have been disturbed.

I think the cloud only seems undisturbed.

A jet airliner produces vortices from its wingtips. Those vortices take a long time to dissipate. When two airliners are flying in the same corridor (which is generally avoided but inevitable when approaching a landing strip), then the separation must be at least two minutes. Too short a time interval and the still violent turbulence may crash the trailing aeroplane. Wherever a jet airliner flies, it will leave heavy disturbance.

But if inside a cloud a portion of the air mass is turbulent, would you spot that from the ground? I don't see how. You cannot see inside a cloud; it's a cloud when you cannot see through it.

Cleonis
 
Scroll down about 1/3rd into this web page to see the effect:

http://home.comcast.net/~clipper-108/lift.htm
 
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