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Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:15 pm
by Colonel
1) Penicillin (Fleming, 1928)

2) Low drag mid-wing fuselage mounting
(Corsair gullwing - for prop clearance)

3) swept wing (increased critical Mach
number) Me262 - shift C of G aft by
moving engines (and sweeping wings)
back.  Republic was so impressed by
this, they redesigned the F-84 with
swept wings.  See also F-86, B707, etc.

Notice anything about these prop tips?

[img]http://hartzellprop.com//wp-content/upl ... iston-.jpg[/img]

Prop blades are after all, very high
speed wings.

Re: Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:47 pm
by ScudRunner-d95
iflyforpie, thanks for that post every once and a while I learn something.

[img]http://kimdalferes.com/wp-content/uploa ... carson.jpg[/img]

and Colonel, thank god for that penicillin eh! the clap is just not fun!

Re: Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:42 pm
by mcrit
Vulcanized rubber:  A scientist accidentally spilled some sulphur into a beaker of molten raw rubber.  When it cooled he discover the result was much superior to natural rubber.

Crazy Glue:  The guy that discovered it was worried that he would get fired.  He was measuring indices of refraction, (how much a material bends light).  When he put the sample in the equipment it unexpectedly glued the plenum shut, ruining a very expensive instrument.

Post it notes:  The guys at 3M were trying to make a new type of adhesive.  They tried it out on some paper and initially thought it was a failure.

Re: Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:49 pm
by Slick Goodlin
Laminated glass: a scientific flask that had become internally coated with some form of cellulose was accidentally dropped.  The glass shattered but the pieces stayed together.

Re: Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 5:43 pm
by Strega
WRT wings...  There are two types to fly > mach 1.

Supersonic section "double diamond" as found on the F104/FA-18.  and swept wings (F14 is an example ) that always fly subsonic behind the shockwave of the aircraft
- note on most  fighters you can estimate the max mach # by looking at the sweep angle.

Sweeping a wing for subsonic flight actually increases the drag of the wing slightly, however as it employs a component of flow normal to its planform, that is slightly less than the airspeed, the Mcrit for the aircraft is increased slightly. 

Re: Accidental Discoveries of the 20th Century

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:57 am
by Strega
The air is slower behind the bow wave, but not subsonic.

Wanna bet?