Nonlinear thinker: Making sense of previously insoluble problems
Friday, January 29, 2010 - 12:21
in Physics & Chemistry
If an airplane is cruising along and raises the flaps on its wings a degree or two, it will tilt upward. If it raises the flaps twice as much, it will tilt upward about twice as much. But if it tilts upward too far - generally more than 15 degrees - the airflow over the wings becomes chaotic, and anything can happen: the nose might jerk up, or it might jerk down; one wing could dip, or the plane could start to spin. In technical terms, within the normal operational range, airplane control is linear; outside that range, it`s nonlinear.