They weigh hundreds of tons, they carry truckloads of heavy people and their enormous luggage, and yet, somehow, they speed along that runway and then manage to angle themselves into the actual air... where they float above the clouds for a while, until gently descending and rumbling to a stop, on the concrete of somewhere else.
Now I know, there's the thing called the Bernoulli Effect. Oh and yes, there are dirty great engines which produce thrust, and uplift (and carbon dioxide) while we sail over the clouds with our gins-and-tonics. But still - it's amazing isn't it? What's more, I don't even think that sort-of knowing how they work (as I clearly don't) reduces the wonder of being on one, or watching one in action! If anything, I think it actually enhances it.
This, for me, is why science and engineering are cool things to be interested in. Some things are wonderful because they are a mystery. Other things are wonderful because they're not. But the journey of uncovering a mystery can actually be a wonderful thing too, as can the adventure of designing and building something to solve a problem, based on the principles you've learned.
Apparently the Wright Brothers' flight in 1903 was a shorter distance than the wing span of a Boeing-747. When they kicked off aviation with their flying bicycle, I wonder if they had any idea where that little bit of mechanical magic would lead?
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