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How Do Airplanes Fly? (And Why Don’t They Flap Like Birds?)
How do airplanes—giant metal tubes weighing hundreds of tons—somehow stay in the sky? And why don’t they just flap their wings like birds?
In this episode of Explain It Like I’m 5, Alex unpacks the physics of flight in plain English. From the four forces of flying (lift, weight, thrust, drag) to how wings create lift through Bernoulli’s principle and Newton’s third law, we break down what keeps a Boeing 747 soaring when your fridge would crash instantly. We’ll also explore why planes don’t flap, what turbulence really is, and some wild airplane facts (like why pilots eat different meals, and how dry the cabin air really is). Plus, a peek into the future of flight—from electric planes to supersonic jets and even space planes.
New episodes every Monday and Wednesday!
View all episodes
By AlexHow do airplanes—giant metal tubes weighing hundreds of tons—somehow stay in the sky? And why don’t they just flap their wings like birds?
In this episode of Explain It Like I’m 5, Alex unpacks the physics of flight in plain English. From the four forces of flying (lift, weight, thrust, drag) to how wings create lift through Bernoulli’s principle and Newton’s third law, we break down what keeps a Boeing 747 soaring when your fridge would crash instantly. We’ll also explore why planes don’t flap, what turbulence really is, and some wild airplane facts (like why pilots eat different meals, and how dry the cabin air really is). Plus, a peek into the future of flight—from electric planes to supersonic jets and even space planes.
New episodes every Monday and Wednesday!