the.com/airfoil
a shape so clever it tricks the sky into holding tons of metal aloft
means An airfoil is a shape—like a wing, propeller blade, or fin—curved so that air flowing around it produces lift.
from A plain compound of "air" plus "foil," the latter from Old French "foil" or "fueille," meaning leaf (the same root behind tinfoil and the thin metal sense of foil)—so an airfoil is, quite literally, a thin leaf-like surface working against the air. The word arose in the early decades of powered flight; British engineers favored "aerofoil," Americans clipped it to "airfoil."
- lift secret
- pressure difference, not just curve, does the heavy work
- reversible
- flip it upside down and it still flies
- f1 use
- race cars use them inverted to push down
- stall limit
- too steep an angle and lift vanishes instantly
- everywhere
- propellers, fans, turbines, and bird wings all qualify
naca 0012 — symmetric airfoil shape used in wind turbines and small aircraft since the 1930s
supercritical airfoil — developed by nasa in the 1970s, reduces shock waves on transonic commercial jets like the boeing 747
laminar flow airfoil — nla0415 designed for natural laminar flow, used in regional aircraft like the dash 8