Serway & Jewett — Fluid Mechanics: Problem 30

An airplane has a mass of \(1.60 \times 10^4 \text{ kg}\), and each wing has an area of \(40.0 \text{ m}^2\). During level flight, the pressure on the lower wing surface is \(7.00 \times 10^4 \text{ Pa}\). (a) Suppose the lift on the airplane were due to a pressure difference alone. Determine the pressure on the upper wing surface. (b) More realistically, a significant part of the lift is due to deflection of air downward by the wing. Does the inclusion of this force mean that the pressure in part (a) is higher or lower? Explain.