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Explaining lift
with AI
Q: AIAA Fellow Paul Bevilaqua asked ChatGPT, “How
does an airplane wing generate lift?” Ahead are
highlights of the chatbot’s response. Did it nail lift? Why
or why not? The bot noted that a wing creates “a
smooth flow of air over the top of the wing and a
turbulent flow of air under the wing,” and because the
wing is “curved on the top and flat on the bottom,” the
air “moving over the top of the wing must travel a
longer distance than air moving under the wing. As a
result, the air above the wing is moving faster than the
air below the wing, which creates a decrease in air
pressure on the top of the wing. This decrease in
pressure on the top of the wing creates an upward
force, known as lift.”
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8 | APRIL 2023 | aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org
FROM THE MARCH ISSUE
CORRECT THE
SPACE TOURIST:
We asked you to explain a
tourist’s incorrect assumptions
about reaching orbit.
WINNER There are two things wrong with the tourist’s
statement. The first one is the claim about zero gravity in
space so you won’t fall back to Earth. This is incorrect, as
the force of gravity is solely dependent upon the masses of
the objects and the distance between the center of mass
of these objects. So the objects are technically always
“falling.” Therefore, there is still gravity acting on the
single-stage-to-orbit. This is seen in Newton’s law of
gravitation, F = G(m1m2/r2). The tourist’s claim about going
west has some truth to it. It is possible that the spacecraft
might not have made it to orbit because launching east
gives a speed boost from the Earth’s rotation. The ability
to stay in orbit while constantly “falling” can be shown by
solving for tangential velocity in m1v2/r = G(m1m2/r2) so v =
v= sq(Gm2/r). Therefore, a higher starting velocity means
the rocket has to do less work to get into orbit.
Frank Lucci
San Antonio, Texas
AIAA high school member at the Basis San Antonio Shavano
charter school.
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