How Do Aerodynamics Affect an Airplane's Lift and Drag Forces?

Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the forces acting on an airplane during ascent, specifically focusing on lift and drag forces. The original poster presents a scenario involving an airplane's mass, velocity, angle of ascent, and thrust produced by the engines, seeking to determine the lift force and resistance to motion.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to apply Newton's second law (F=ma) but expresses confusion regarding the lack of time information. They question whether thrust needs to be converted to acceleration and whether a drag force can be zero. Other participants clarify that the plane is not accelerating, indicating that vertical and horizontal forces must balance, and suggest writing equations for both components.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants exploring the relationship between thrust, lift, weight, and drag. Some guidance has been offered regarding the use of trigonometric functions to resolve thrust and drag into their components, and there is a suggestion to start with the horizontal forces to simplify the problem.

Contextual Notes

Participants are navigating the complexities of force components in a two-dimensional context, questioning assumptions about the direction of thrust and the nature of drag. There is an acknowledgment of the need to clarify the vertical and horizontal components of the forces involved.

emperror123
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
1. an aeroplane of mass 300 tonnes during ascent travels at a constant velocity of 100 m/s. its angle of ascent is 10° to the horizontal. the trust produced by engines is 9000kN. Determine
i)the lift force acting on the wings
ii) the resistance to motion

i were trying to use f=ma, but the question didnt mention about the time, is it we need to convert 9000kN to acceleration in order to get time is second or can i get it from the question above, in other way i research via google with other website, some get F = 0N, is it possible?

secondly, the resistance is it = lift force or is it a drag force

thank
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Welcome to PF, emperror.
The plane is not accelerating, so both the vertical and horizontal forces must be zero. For the vertical forces, you have a component of thrust upward, lift upward and the weight downward. You also have a component of the drag (resistance to motion) downward. Looks like two unknowns there, so you will have to write a similar equation for the horizontal forces and solve the two as a system.
 
u mean i have to find the vertical axis 1st before i can do the horizontal axis?
and i can assume that the velocity with angle with 0N?

thrust is it on horizontal or vertical? cause u said that the thrust is upward (y-axis), make me doubt on whether is it horizontal or vertical

thank for you reply
 
plane.jpg

Note that thrust and drag are partly horizontal and partly vertical.
You must use sine and cosine to get their horizontal and vertical components.
The vertical component of thrust will be 9000 kN *sin(10).
Recommend you start with the horizontal part; looks like it will be easy to solve for the drag.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
1K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Replies
41
Views
5K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K