Thrust:
As previously mentioned, thrust is what pushes the airplane forward. Some airplanes use propellers for thrust, while some use jet engines.
Jet engines use a combustion reaction to move the plane forward. This cycle begins at the front of the jet engine, where there is an intake of air. This air is then compressed by a fan, where the compressed air is then mixed with fuel. When the compressed air is mixed with the fuel, it causes a combustion reaction which creates a force, which is how the airplane moves forward. This is an example of Newton's third law: for every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. One part of the design of jet engines though, is that it has to be powerful enough to keep generally large aircraft in the air. The engines are designed to intake large amounts of air very quickly and combust it with large amounts of fuel. This makes the jet generate sufficient power to keep the airplane flying.
Use of this type of engine to generate thrust is an example of turning potential energy into kinetic energy.
As previously mentioned, thrust is what pushes the airplane forward. Some airplanes use propellers for thrust, while some use jet engines.
Jet engines use a combustion reaction to move the plane forward. This cycle begins at the front of the jet engine, where there is an intake of air. This air is then compressed by a fan, where the compressed air is then mixed with fuel. When the compressed air is mixed with the fuel, it causes a combustion reaction which creates a force, which is how the airplane moves forward. This is an example of Newton's third law: for every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. One part of the design of jet engines though, is that it has to be powerful enough to keep generally large aircraft in the air. The engines are designed to intake large amounts of air very quickly and combust it with large amounts of fuel. This makes the jet generate sufficient power to keep the airplane flying.
Use of this type of engine to generate thrust is an example of turning potential energy into kinetic energy.
As mentioned earlier, another way airplanes (generally smaller aircraft) create thrust is through use of a propeller. Propellers have a few angled blades that, when turned, push the airplane forward. A couple of the most important factors of the propeller are the angle at which the blade is situated, as well as the shape and size of the blades. Propellers are similar to wings in the way that they both accelerate airflow over their surfaces. As the propeller turns at a high velocity, it causes a high velocity of the air which in turn results in higher static pressure behind the propeller, and lower static pressure in front of the propeller, which pulls the propeller forward.
