The Physics of Flight

I recently went on holiday to Italy, this required me to fly which got me wondering: How does an aeroplane fly whilst carrying so much weight? I went on a little journey of discovery and found out.

Takeoff

During takeoff, the plane's engines produce a great deal of force (thrust) pointing in the opposite direction of the plane's travel. According to Newton's third law of motion, this makes the plane move forwards (every action has an equal and opposite reaction). Due the movement forward, air is rushing over the plane's wings. The carefully designed shape of the wings forces this air downwards which causes an upward force called lift. This lift is what causes the plane to go upwards and the thrust from the engines is what causes it to move forwards.

Flight

The plane is now suspended in the air. It doesn't fall to ground because the lift produced by the air rushing downwards exactly balances the weight acting downwards. The plane keeps moving forwards because the thrust from the engines is greater than the air resistance.

There you have it, flight in its simplest terms.