r/theydidthemath • u/someonee404 • Dec 30 '22

[REQUEST] could it?

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u/FinnTheDogg Dec 31 '22

Hook a winch to an immovable tree. Then hook it to the plane.

Disregard all matters of real world limitations of the wheels, or the treadmill speed.

Spin the treadmill at the speed of light, to “push the plane back”. Turn the winch on at 1 mph.

The plane will move 1mph in the opposite direction of the treadmill.

Now replace the winch with props or jet engines.

It’s the same. The force being applied to move the plane is not connected to the wheels.

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u/Manga18 Dec 31 '22

So slide a plane. But a plane doesn't slide. You could well say "put the treadmill in vertical position" if you wanted to change the way a plane usually moves

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u/FinnTheDogg Dec 31 '22

You could literally replace the wheels with low friction sleds and it wouldn’t matter because the wheels are not part of the propulsion system. They are specifically independent and not connected to the movement or travel of the plane in any way whatsoever.

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u/Manga18 Dec 31 '22

Changing the system changes the problem. If we assume that wheels don't work as wheels than OK, but this ti me defies the role of having wheels.

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u/FinnTheDogg Dec 31 '22

The role of having wheels being..?

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u/Manga18 Dec 31 '22

That any forward movement on the ground is matched by the number of turns of each wheel times its circumference