What's another way to explain flight using a wing (airfoil)? Use Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion. (Newton was the British mathematician and philosopher who, in the late 17th century, was inspired by the fall of an apple and came up with the theory of gravity.) An airplane's airfoil deflects the air going over the upper surface down as it leaves the trailing edge of the wing. When the wing is at an angle, this deflection is even greater. Newton's Third Law says that for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. So if the airfoil deflects the air down, the resulting opposite reaction pushes the wing up. ..

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