All flight is the result of forces acting upon the wings of an airplane that allow it to counteract gravity. Contrary to popular belief, the Bernoulli principle is not responsible for most of the lift generated by an airplanes wings. Rather, the lift is created by air being deflected off the wings and transferring an upward force to those wings.

The most important factor in determining the lift generated by an airplane is the angle of attack. The angle of attack is the degree measure from the horizontal that a wing is elevated or declined. When the angle of attack is between 1 and 20 degrees, the most lift is generated. To find the lift generated by a particular area of wing

As the air flows over the wing producing lift, it grabs onto the wings surface and causes drag. Drag can be measured by the equation D=Cd 1/2 (pV2)S, much like the lift equation. The drag coeficent Cd is found, again, by determining the shape of the airfoil and then finding the angle of attack. Drag is less than lift up to a certain angle of attack. After that, the air encountering the surface of the wing is either pushed off or deflected in a way to cause turbulance.

So, what does lift and drag have to do with airflow? As hinted in the above paragraph lift and drag are directly related to the shape of the airfoil. A special property of liquids is this, they will tend to follow a surface that is gently curved. When air rushes over an airfoil at a 10 degree angle, the air passing over the surface of the wing follows the curvature. When the air finally leaves the trailing edge of the wing it now

Some common words found in the essay are:
, angle attack, lift generated, velocity air, shape airfoil, lift drag, air passing, surface wing, 1/2 pv2s, vector produced,
Approximate Word count = 613
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)