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Asked by desorgherm to Christina, Colin, Jess, Samaneh, Steve on 24 Jun 2013.
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Steven Gardner answered on 24 Jun 2013:
The answer is it depends which way you want to go.
If you’re sailing with the wind, then the sails simply catch the wind and that moves you forwards.
What sailors can do to be really clever is sail against the wind, to do this, they move the sail until it’s at an angle to the wind, the air rushes past on one side of the sail and stays calm on the other side. This is where the Bernoulli principle comes in, the fast moving air on one side puts less pressure on the sail than the calm air on the other side, so a force is generated pushing the boat in a direction at 90 degrees to the sail.
You can’t sail directly into to the wind doing this, you have to zigzag along, but it means you can travel in both directions no matter which way the wind blows.
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Christina Pagel answered on 24 Jun 2013:
It might also be worth saying that the Bernouilli principle that Steven explains in his answer is the same thing that lets planes fly! The calmer air on the flat (bottom) of a wing exerts more pressure than the air rushing over the (curved) top of the wing, so lifting the plane…
Comments
10shekora commented on :
hi how dose achiken fly
10shekora commented on :
i have no idea
Christina commented on :
chickens can’t fly! they can flap enough to jump quite high but that’s about it!
Steve commented on :
“It might also be worth saying that the Bernouilli principle that Steven explains in his answer is the same thing that lets planes fly!”
D’oh! I meant to say that but forgot. Thanks Christina!