Is the acceleration of a mass of air to the rear of the aircraft.

The reaction
is that the aeroplane is pulled forward

Since the angle of a propeller blade varies along its length, a particular
blade station must be chosen to specify the pitch of a blade. Rather than
using blade angles at a reference station, some propeller manufaactures
express pitch in inches at 75% of the radius. This is the geometcric pitch,
or the distance this particular element would move forward in one
revolution along a helix, or spiral, equal to its blade angle

The effective pitch is the actual distance a propeller advances through

the air in one revolution. This cannot by determined by the pitch angle
alone because it is affected by the forward velocity of the airplane.
10.1. PROPELER THRUST
Thrust can be generated by a propeller in two ways :
1. Aerodynamic principle – airflow over a cambered aerofoil surface (bernoulli’s
theorem)
2. Cold jet principle – the acceleration of large mass of air rearward (Newton’s 3rd law)

The thrust produced by a propeller is dependent upon a number of factors

• Speed the blade moves through the air
• Cross sectional shape of the blade
• Density of the air
• Angle of attack
10.2 PROPELLER THRUST DUE TO
AERODYNAMIC FORCES
the blade rotation generates aerodynamic “lift and drag” in a similiar
way to an aircraft wing. These forces are of little practical use when
assessing the performance of a propeller. With the propeller, the most
important forces are those acting:
• Along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. These forces are known as
the “thrust” of the propeller.
• At right angles to the propeller longitudinal axis. These forces are
known as the propeller “torque”
(A turning moment generated when a propeller rotates)
Propellers are similiar in aerofoil section to a low drag wing and as such
are poor in operation when at other than their optimum angle of
attack. A fixed pitch propeller is always a compromise between
acceleration or climb performance, and Cruise Speed. You cannot have
both without varying the pitch of the Blades. Control systems are
required to counter the need for accurate matching of pitch to flight
speed and engine speed.