A plane on a conveyor belt

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Just watched mythbusters and apparently this is a big internet fad.

Anyway

Here's the original problem essentially as it was posed to us: "A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?"

I knew the answer but I couldnt explain *WHY* but I was wondering what you people think.
 
If the answer is 'yes' then that's going to leave a nasty hole in the shed where this experiment is happening. Actually, I assume the answer is 'yes' as my immediate thought was 'no' and if it were 'no' that'd make for carp TV.

"Today on Mythbusters we're going to show you something that you almost certainly knew anyway ..."
 
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apt
 
my answer/guess is NO..

yes it has the speed, but it doesnt have the movement in the air or whatever for it to start going up..

as in once it stops touching the belt, it'll be at 0mph still and hence prob just fall back onto the belt..

it'll be like a donkey chasing a carrot attached a metre infront of its head :D
 
A quick search on "conveyor belt" will find you a thread now locked on this very topic, short answer is yes it will take off since the engines are providing the propulsion rather than the wheels.

//edit to save you the bother of even searching here is the thread.
 
I've changed my mind... yes. It would.

I'm off to eat my 1 sammich cut into 2 whilst counting to 0.9999999... :/
 
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No the plane cannot take off because even though It's engines are running the force it's exerting is counteracted by the conveyer and so said plane is not actually moving and therefore without momentum it's unable to exert enough air pressure around the wings as the flaps are put into the correct positions for take off
 
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OMG, the answer is clearly YES, IT WILL TAKE OFF.
I can promise my life on it, just go and do GCSE physics please.

The belt is acting on the wheels, the plane is not powered like a car, its thrust is from pushing the air in the opposite direction to motion.
The air is not on a "belt" so therefore the movement of the belt will be ignored and it will take off exactly the same as usual.
The wheels only function is to provide reaction to the weight of the plane..........not drive.
 
It will take off. Aircraft are not like cars, the engines provide thrust and not power through the wheels. The aircraft will accelerate as usual, just the wheels will be going twice as fast since they will be in contact with the surface going the other direction.
 
Capn' $qu!ff said:
No the plane cannot take off because even though It's engines are running the force it's exerting is counteracted by the conveyer and so said plane is not actually moving and therefore without momentum it's unable to exert enough air pressure around the wings as the flaps are put into the correct positions for take off
Click to expand...

How completely incorrect in so many ways
 
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