The Plane Took Off!!!!!!!!!

[SeventhSon]

Zeegs,
I can understand the misconception. The thing with wheels that most people have expierence with is a car/truck/bike. So it's understandable that they would take the way a car moves and transfer it to the way a plane moves. I can understand it completely, since I was on that side of the fence for a while...

That's why this is/was so hotly debated. Some people can't get past the idea that the wheels make the plane move. The wheels make their car/truck/bike moves so why not a plane? But you're right, if you think about it for just a second, it makes sense. That's where the heated debate comes from. Those that were on the other side wouldn't even entertain the idea for 1 second, they were so convinced they were right. I mean, it's how my car moves, right?

Exactly. I was on the other side of the fence as well. I think the original question was beautifully phrased...for maximum mind fuckage!

i mean when you think of a treadmill, you think of some chick at the gym with 0 ground speed while she is chugging along at 10 mph. so the instinctive reaction is to think that it could have the same effect on a plane.

now the really funny thing is the group of people that now believe the plane will fly (because they heard mythbusters proved it) but think the plane magically takes off with 0 effective ground speed.

[dg]

Yep. The youtube & Mythbusters forum comments are classic. Still plenty of "why don't they put conveyors on aircraft carriers, then!" comments. Or my fave: "You can see the plane moving by the cones! That proves the plane's tires are grabbing the pavement through that tarp!"

:ROTF::ROTF:

[Bengal]

Exactly. I was on the other side of the fence as well. I think the original question was beautifully phrased...for maximum mind fuckage!

i mean when you think of a treadmill, you think of some chick at the gym with 0 ground speed while she is chugging along at 10 mph. so the instinctive reaction is to think that it could have the same effect on a plane.

now the really funny thing is the group of people that now believe the plane will fly (because they heard mythbusters proved it) but think the plane magically takes off with 0 effective ground speed.

Well put...

The thing I don't understand is why people can't just admit they were on the wrong side. I don't mean here but more to the comments posted on youtube that dg was talking about. What's wrong with just saying you got "Mind Fucked" and learn from it and move on. There is no shame in that at all. Show's you're an adult. Somehow we forgot that also...

[SeventhSon]

I think I'm going to go to the gym, run on the treadmill, then complain loudly about why i'm not achieving any lift...

:ROTF::ROTF::ROTF:

[finnman]

Well, That just cleared it up for me.
I said It wouldn't take off because it needed wind over the wings for lift.
I didn't realize or could picture in my head that just because
the wheels were spinning it couldn't thrust forward just like any plane and take off.
The tarp had nothing to do with it.
Finn
Grade D-
My vote for "Best topic this year."

[Bengal]

It is a mind fuck question. No doubt about it...

[RobRR]

Its only a mindfuck to mindless fucks.

[Snoogans]

So, if we got this real big trampoline, and then tried to launch a Titan rocket from dead in the centre of it......

[pott]

How is it a mindfuck question? :s I think everyone knows a plane takes off because of lift, not just thrust... The only issue in the question is: does the conveyor belt prevent the plane from going forward (which is needed to achieve lift at higher speeds) and/or prevent it from achieving thrust. Answer is simply no to each of those questions. So it takes off. What's so weird about the question?

[GodOfRhythm]

Where's xenophobe?

[SeventhSon]

How is it a mindfuck question? :s I think everyone knows a plane takes off because of lift, not just thrust... The only issue in the question is: does the conveyor belt prevent the plane from going forward (which is needed to achieve lift at higher speeds) and/or prevent it from achieving thrust. Answer is simply no to each of those questions. So it takes off. What's so weird about the question?

gee, because when the pilot on the mythbusters show says the plane will stay put like a brick, and when pilots/scientists/engineers call the will-fly people stupid morons on public message boards, i'd say that's a good indicator that the question has successfully fucked with rational minds.

now that there is only a very small minority of people in the no-fly camp, i guess if you now want to divide the world up into knew-it-would-fly-from-start vs. switched-to-will-fly, you go, girl!

[zeegler]

gee, because when the pilot on the mythbusters show says the plane will stay put like a brick, and when pilots/scientists/engineers call the will-fly people stupid morons on public message boards, i'd say that's a good indicator that the question has successfully fucked with rational minds.

It doesn't say much for their practical knowledge does it? Personally, I wouldn't want to fly in a plane with a pilot that couldn't figure that out. Those pilots/scientists/engineers, should seriously reconsider their choice of careers.

[GodOfRhythm]

The only way to misconstrue the question is if you'd take into account the possibility of the treadmill going so fast in mere seconds to have the free-spinning wheels go so fast that they'd explode or give out, causing the plane to skid/explode and thus never take off.

Since this is NOT possible, a priori, the plane will always take off.

[RobRR]

It doesn't say much for their practical knowledge does it? Personally, I wouldn't want to fly in a plane with a pilot that couldn't figure that out. Those pilots/scientists/engineers, should seriously reconsider their choice of careers.

EXACTLY. It amazed me how many engineers/pilots and all around "genius" couldnt figure this out. It was really just simple logic.

[dg]

They are focused on how a plane gets lift & how it behaves once it's airborne, not the way the wheels interact with the ground. I'm willing to cut people slack for thinking the plane will sit still until someone explains to them why it won't. After that, we see who has a closed mind & who doesn't. I think what this question shows best is how stubborn or arrogant some people are when they "know" they're right.