YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AktBT6D-ewg
Previous: Drilling Holes in Glaciers to Save Them
Next: Where Did That One Thick, Dark Hair Come From?

Categories

Statistics

View count:4,011,608
Likes:241,889
Comments:4,125
Duration:00:42
Uploaded:2023-03-17
Last sync:2024-03-14 05:15

Citation

Citation formatting is not guaranteed to be accurate.
MLA Full: "Why aren't commercial jets getting faster? #shorts #science #SciShow." YouTube, uploaded by SciShow, 17 March 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AktBT6D-ewg.
MLA Inline: (SciShow, 2023)
APA Full: SciShow. (2023, March 17). Why aren't commercial jets getting faster? #shorts #science #SciShow [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AktBT6D-ewg
APA Inline: (SciShow, 2023)
Chicago Full: SciShow, "Why aren't commercial jets getting faster? #shorts #science #SciShow.", March 17, 2023, YouTube, 00:42,
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AktBT6D-ewg.
This video was originally posted to TikTok in March 2021.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

Alexis Dahl: Writer
Erin Morris: Fact Checker
Savannah Geary: Editor, Associate Producer
Sarah Suta: Producer
Caitlin Hofmeister: Executive Producer
Hank Green: Executive Producer

Sources:
https://web.mit.edu/2.972/www/reports/airfoil/airfoil.html
https://practicalaero.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/NASA-SP-367.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1JAvn2lYcAObNzEMoe-gMG9Wlu-Dwn3KfXogJ0dY9uEXGmgr4dREv7Atc
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/wrong1.html

Image Source:
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/airfoil-gm1271622572-374152308
Hank: Wild fact for you - the speed of commercial airliners has not increased since the 1960s. Fly me faster! They top out at around 950 kilometers per hour, which is fast, but it's probably not going to get any faster.

See, the shape of the wing is called an airfoil, it's kind of like a teardrop. And that shape means the air lowing over the top of the wing is going faster than the air going under the wing. And you need it to be that shape for the plane to work. The problem is, when you reach 80% of the speed of sound, the air going over the top of the wing starts to break the sound barrier. That creates shockwaves, they create drag, and that slows the plane down.

Now, you can overcome that drag, but that uses so much fuel that flights would get wildly more expensive. So today, planes fly at a speed that minimizes that drag, which is why we're going the same speed as we were 60 years ago.

[end]