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PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Phycological
Methods
Lift Forces
Every time you fly in an airplane, you rely on the force
of lift to hold your vehicle aloft. Lift is due to a difference in pressure
between the top and bottom of an object in flow. In the picture of an airfoil
below, observe how the streamlines are compressed above the wing but further
apart below the wing. 
This means that average velocity is higher above the wing but lower below it. Since pressure must decrease as velocity increases, the pressure above the wing is lower than the pressure below it. This difference in pressure produces a net upward force.
Lift Force = 1/2 * r * CL *Aplanform * u2
Where....
Aplanform = Planform Area (surface area looking up at the object)
r = Fluid Density
CL = Coefficient of Lift (proportionality coefficient--empirically determined)
u = Fluid Velocity
Among other things, this equation indicates that higher velocities produce greater lift forces.
Back to Material Properties
copyright Elizabeth Nelson, Judith Connor 1999, 2000 Non-profit educational uses permitted.