BENIT GLOIRE

How airplanes stay in the air

NASA officially debunked the Equal Transit Time theory, proving that air molecules on top of a wing do not meet their bottom-side counterparts at the tail. Theodore and Maya discuss how a 1.5% pressure differential across the wings of an Airbus A320 generates enough lift to counteract the gravitational pull of a 150,000-pound aircraft. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner uses carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers to allow wings to flex up to 25 feet, acting as a shock absorber during turbulence. Modern engines like the GE9X produce 134,300 pounds of thrust, exceeding the combined power of an entire Formula 1 starting grid.