A scientist at Cambridge University has debunked the long-held myth about how aircraft stay aloft.
Aeroplanes can fly as their wings cause the air pressure underneath to be greater than that above, lifting them into the air. But, engineers have for years been frustrated by a theory, which wrongly explains what causes the pressure change, a myth commonly found in school textbooks and flight manuals.
But, Prof Holger Babinsky of Cambridge University's engineering department has now created a minute-long video, posted on 'YouTube' website, to lay to rest the myth once and for all, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
According to conventional wisdom, the pressure change happens as the air on the curved upper surface of the wing has further to travel than that below the flat underneath surface, meaning it must travel faster to arrive at the other side of the wing at the same time.
Prof Babinsky says the myth goes against the laws of physics and the real explanation has nothing to do with the distance the air has to travel.
According to him, the curvature of the wing causes the change in air pressure because it pulls some of the air upwards, which reduces pressure, and forces the rest beneath
it, creating higher pressure.
A law known as the Bernoulli equation means that when pressure is lower, air moves faster -- so the air stream above the wing does move more quickly than the one below, but this is not what causes the difference in pressure.
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