zlacker

>>qqqqqu+(OP)
Flight. How can a plane fly when it's thrust to weight ratio is less than one? It's like, if you can produce 10 pounds of thrust, who would look at that and say "ah ha, we can use this to keep a 100 pound machine miles in the air indefinitely"?

I understand flight from a mathematical point of view. I've actually read a few books on the subject, and I could explain how flight works to someone. However, I'm still fishing for an explanation that "feels" more satisfying though. Per the question, I still want it explained better.

EDIT: There's already a thread about flight. I asked the same question there, but phrased a bit differently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22993460

>>Button+p41
Think of it like a wedge. 10 pounds force on the back of a wedge can easily cause 100 pounds force perpendicular to it.

But there is a tradeoff between force and displacement. Larger force = smaller displacement.

Same with a wing. The thrust force is lower than the lift force, but the horizontal displacement (velocity) of the wing is much greater than the vertical displacement (velocity) of the deflected air.

i.e. small force x large velocity = large force x small velocity