Quote:
Originally Posted by MediaCenterJunkie
Orange, the difference here is that you are thinking of a car, which uses the wheels pushing off the ground to gain velocity and travel forward.
A plane on the otherhand, its wheels are not connected to anything other than barrings and they spin freely.
The plane doesn't use the ground to move forward, it uses the air.
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Sorry, all of it's energy is going to be directed to the treadmill, eliminating the plane's forward motion. Its energy from the engine pushes it forward. The friction between its wheels and the treadmill holds it back. All of that energy is transferred to the treadmill through the friction.
If the system is imperfect, you get some sort of wreck (the wheels come off, the treadmill breaks, etc.) but we're talking about a system that is functioning properly.
For the plane to move forward, the wheels have to move. If the wheels move, the treadmill moves under them and the plane goes nowhere.