This is awesome. I asked my dad about it at lunch in the MGM and he says it would not take off, but he couldn't give me a satisfactory reason as to why not. I think tonight after we go see BMG I'm going to have a better discussion about it. Also, when I fly back from Vegas, I'm asking the pilot on my flight what he thinks. I still think the plane would fly, except that when it got to the end of the treadmill the wings would smash into the handle bar and cause the plane to crash. Please refer to my MS Paint diagram below for more.
Edit: I added the quote stuff.
So are you saying rolling wheels don't have static friction? Check out what Wikipedia has to say about Rolling Friction. If you're saying the thrust from the engines is counteracted by the treadmill pushing the wheels back because of the kinetic friction between the wheels and ball bearings, then the wheels would be moving so fast the tires would melt and come off the actuall wheel causing the plane to crash anyways.djphetal wrote:
So, for all of the energy the jets provide, that energy is displaced upon the movement of the wheels NOT HAVING STATIC FRICTION... because the treadmill is moving, thus, so are the wheels.
Edit: I added the quote stuff.