This thread is turning into walls of text so I want to discuss you arguments one by one
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
* The favorable pressure gradient at the front of the vehicle helps maintain attached flow.It travels along with the vehicle.It has nothing to do with Newtonian physics.It in itself imparts no drag to the vehicle.
* drag is predominantly about pressure differentials.
* Air does not exert a rearward force on the vehicle.
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Think of a simple example, the wing of a bird. How does a bird fly? By pushing against the air on the downstroke. The air is exerting a force opposite to the direction of motion because it has viscosity and resists movement through it.
How about the propeller? Picture in your mind a simple flat propeller blade. The leading edge slices into the viscous air, and pulls the airplane through the air. Why? Because the air is exerting a force on the blade. That force is both forward (relative to the airplane) and against the motion of the blade. Think of the leading surface of a car as the the leading surface of the propeller.
Similar to the propeller blade is the airplane wing... No, planes don't fly because of Bernoulli's Principle, that's one of those myths that gets repeated even in textbooks.
75% of the lift on a wing comes from the top, and 25% on the bottom according to the FAA. If you were right about no force being applied by air to the leading sloped surfaces of a car, then the bottom of the wing would provide 0% of the lift.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...es.html?cat=16