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How do wings work?

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Holger Babinsky 2003 Phys. Educ. 38 497 DOI 10.1088/0031-9120/38/6/001

0031-9120/38/6/497

Abstract

The popular explanation of lift is common, quick, sounds logical and gives the correct answer, yet also introduces misconceptions, uses a nonsensical physical argument and misleadingly invokes Bernoulli's equation. A simple analysis of pressure gradients and the curvature of streamlines is presented here to give a more correct explanation of lift.

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10.1088/0031-9120/38/6/001