Bill Nye stumbles across a clearing in the forest. He watches wide-eyed as a twoleg winged-object soars across the patch of blue sky.
Bill Nye: Wow! I wonder how the twolegs made that thing!
A sudden rustling in a nearby bush startles him and a ginger cat leaps out.
Pressuretail: I know! Fascinating, right? It can be explained by Bernoulli's Principle.
Bill Nye: Burgundy's Principle? Why, do you belong to BurgundyClan? Am I in Burgundy now? Have I really travelled that far? I don't recall voyaging across any ocean, but I am an old, old cat so—
Pressuretail: So your hearing must also be retarded. I said the Bernoulli's Principle, and I come from BernoulliClan where Bernoullistar's the leader.
Bill Nye: So, what exactly is the Berwhat'sitsface's Principle?
Pressuretail: That twoleg bird you saw was an aeroplane. Cats from all over the world think that the rumbling thing called the engine is the key to its flight, when in actuality, it's not.
Bill Nye: *shakes head sadly* Starlings and walruses don't have engines, ya dimwits.
Pressuretail: Walruses can't fly.
Bill Nye: *clicks tongue* Yes, they can. I would know. My mother was a walrus.
Pressuretail: Um, I thought there already was a chapter where we learnt about genetics. I suppose you are getting old.
Well, essentially the engines are used to move the plane forwards at a very high speed. This makes wind go over the plane wings very fast, which throws air towards the ground. This creates a force called 'lift' that causes the plane to fly.
Bill Nye: Does the shape of the wings affect anything?
Pressuretail: Oh, yes. Plane wings are curved on the upper surface and flat on the bottom side. This shape is an aero foil.
Bill Nye: *nods* I get it! Because the top part is curved and thus has a longer length, the air on top has to travel faster over the curve in order to catch up with the air rushing by the flat bottom. Because they have to travel at the same time.
Pressuretail: Although most of the science books and webpages say that, it's actually incorrect. Think about it; if acrobatic planes follow that rule, wouldn't they fall instead of go upside down, because the lift is 'reversed'?
Bill Nye: Yeah...
Pressuretail: You see, nothing says that the air has to rush over the curved part faster so it takes the same time as the air from the bottom to meet at the back end of the wing. As the wind flows across the curved side of the wing, it wants to move in a straight line, but the curve forces it to stretch out into a larger volume so that the same number of air molecules have to take up more space than usual.
Bill Nye: Oh, so that's how the air pressure from above the curved wing is altered and lowered. Meanwhile, the wind flows underneath the wing in a perfect straight line, so air molecules are pushed together in a smaller space, thus increasing the air pressure. This is what generates the lift. *starts dancing*
Pressuretail: *dances too*
Written by Saph! 🍩✨
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Bill Nye the Science Kitty
FanfictionBill Nye isn't a Clan cat; he's merely a loner who wanders across the cat-populated plains of Sciencelandia. But, when he stumbles upon the territories of the many Clans that live in Sciencelandia, he has a lot to learn-but so do you! ~ Cover by...
