Mass and Resistance
Online English Magazine | September 10, 2008
MASS AND RESISTANCE.
Owing to the fact that resistance acts with such a retarding force on an object of small mass, and it is difficult to set up a rapid motion in an object of great density, lightness in flying machine structures has been considered, in the past, the principal thing necessary.
THE EARLY TENDENCY TO ELIMINATE MOMENTUM.
Builders of flying machines, for several years, sought to eliminate the very thing which gives energy to a horizontally-movable body, namely, momentum.
Instead of momentum, something had to be substituted. This was found in so arranging the machine that its weight, or a portion of it, would be sustained in space by the very element which seeks to retard its flight, namely, the atmosphere.
If there should be no material substance, like air, then the only way in which a heavier-than-air machine could ever fly, would be by propelling it through space, like the ball was thrown, or by some sort of impulse or reaction mechanism on the air-ship itself. It could get no support from the atmosphere.
again let’s do a panning…♫ black crowned night heron from bali♫ by bocavermelha-l.b.
