Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
This is precisely the point that the show made at its conclusion. Jamie Hyneman said just before pronouncing judgment: "no matter how many times you try to explain it, people just can't seem to grasp that a plane's engine controls its airspeed and not the wheels"...or something to that effect.
I thought the myth would work out another way as well. But watching last night caused me to wonder: If the statement about airspeed is true, then theoritically, no matter how fast the treadmill is going, the plane's wheels will always move faster in the other direction because of the plane's airspeed. In other words: it would be impossible to render it stationary on a treadmill, outside of a tether. Is that right?
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Nope. There is some friction through the wheels. Thus if the treadmill was going
very, very fast, that frictional force would be enough to equal the thrust generated by the plane's engines.