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Airplane On a Conveyor Belt

Posted By: Alejandro
Date: Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 3:34 p.m.

This little treasure caused anarchy amongst civil/mechanical engineers alike at our study sessions back in 2006. Its so puzzling that many people fail to grasp the concept even after hearing the answer.

"A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyor). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyor moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?"

Messages In This Thread

• Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
  Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 3:34 p.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    Stick -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 3:39 p.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Casper van der Tak -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 3:51 p.m.
  • Assumptions?
    Paul Vianna -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 3:46 p.m.
    • Assumptions?
      Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 4:03 p.m.
      • Assumptions?
        Paul Vianna -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 6:51 p.m.
        • Assumptions?
          Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 7:25 p.m.
          • Assumptions?
            Paul Vianna -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 7:44 p.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    ryc -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 4:08 p.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Casper van der Tak -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 4:20 p.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:05 p.m.
      • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
        ryc -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 6:39 p.m.
        • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
          Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 8:05 p.m.
          • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
            ryc -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 8:15 p.m.
            • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
              Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 8:41 p.m.
          • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
            Maik Stiebler -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 10:08 a.m.
            • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
              Alejandro -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 3:25 p.m.
              • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                Sam Pottle -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 9:43 p.m.
                • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                  Casper van der Tak -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 9:46 p.m.
                  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                    Daniel Murphy -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 11:34 p.m.
                    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                      Casper van der Tak -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 12:40 a.m.
                    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                      Sam Pottle -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 2:21 a.m.
                      • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                        Daniel Murphy -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 3:26 a.m.
                      • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                        Alejandro -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 1:47 p.m.
                • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
                  Alejandro -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 1:39 p.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    Daniel Murphy -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:11 p.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:20 p.m.
      • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
        Daniel Murphy -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:40 p.m.
        • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
          Alejandro -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:46 p.m.
    • Rollout above
      Sam Pottle -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:22 p.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    Jason Lee -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 5:46 p.m.
  • Do we really want this many OT posts?
    Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 10 June 2010, at 10:14 p.m.
  • RO
    Alejandro -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 1:20 a.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    Christian Plenz -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 1:29 a.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Sam Pottle -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 5:08 a.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    Chuck Bower -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 1:59 a.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Alejandro -- Saturday, 12 June 2010, at 3:22 p.m.
  • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
    christian munk-christensen -- Sunday, 13 June 2010, at 8:18 p.m.
    • Airplane On a Conveyor Belt
      Henrik Bukkjaer -- Tuesday, 15 June 2010, at 8:26 a.m.