Could a plane fly if..?

Question

I know a Super Lithium-Ion battery would drag down the plane but what if it was stored in an anti-gravity room, in which the walls were covered in blocks of solid foam to stop it colliding and wires from the battery through the walls charged the engine moving the plane?

Just an idea..

Answer 1

And what will you use too feed the antigravity room (which does not exist) and how much will the antigravity room weight?

cheers

Answer 2

I know I have have said some off the wall comments to people in this category before, but how in the world can anyone keep a straight face in the light of this question??

Answer 3

Dan, there is no such thing as anti-gravity.  If you are thinking about magnetic levitation, that could never lift anything as heavy as an airliner high into the air.

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It's good you're thinking and exercising your imagination but remember all successful inventions are built with proved technology and not dependent upon systems that have yet to be invented.  

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Scientist today and even Einstein when he was around all admit that for all we have learned about the structure and workings of the cosmos they do no know why or how gravity works.

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Answer 4

Dan,

You are now further away from a practical understanding of the technical realities of aviation than you were a couple of days ago when you first asked about this.  There is no anti-gravity, nor will there be any.  I don't know where you got that idea, nor, really, how you are proposing to use it.

As before; you have some basic smarts, but you are resisting learning the rudiments of the science and technology involved.  Instead of thinking about lithium-ion batteries and wind farms, get down to the library and start Reading about aviation, aeronautical engineering, and electrical circuits.  You'll be glad you did!

Answer 5

Even if you could make it work...why would you?

The electrical system doesn't run the engine, it's only used to start it. A prop and piston-driven engine runs off of magnetos, completely seperate from the electrical system (if the battery and alternator were to blow out, the engine keeps running, just no radios, lights, etc.). Even if you're talking about a turbofan jetliner, the same still applies; the engines don't depend on the plane's electrical system to function. You could never develop a sytem that would even come to rivaling what a simple 12V battery does.

Also, understand that aircraft are VERY sensitive to weight and balance (where the weight is located). I assume you mentioned anti-grav as a way to solve the weight of such an Li battery. Sorry, but the weight of such an antigrav unit would upset the plane, possibly to the point of making it unsafe. No matter where you locate it, you'd have to place enough weight in an opposing area to recenter the Center of Gravity. That's assuming doing so wouldn't send the plane over its gross weight.

Oh, one last thing.

Your whole "battery" system would likely give off so much EM emissions that the MAIN nav system in an airplane, the compass, would be hopelessly screwed!

[POST-EDIT: Another poster mentioned "solar panels on the propellers." Heck NO! Props are a lifting surface, like wings, and require a smooth contoured surface to develop the lift (i.e., forward lift). Also, they are made of steel and turn at up to 2,600 RPM. Even if you embedded the solar panels inside the prop to maintain shape, the loss of the interior metal would make such a weak prop that it would split apart from stress fractures before you could say "free peanuts"!]

Answer 6

(best answer?)

Good question, i think the two biggest wholes in the idea are that even though the fuel supply (Lion batt) was in a antigravity room, its all still aboard the aircraft so the weight has not been removed, the other thing is what fuels the battery? that would have to be stored somewhere too. Solar pannels could not be on the prop because they need heat to create an electrical charge and the cells could not heat correctly if they were spinning on a prop like blood in a centrifuge.

Also, why would you do this? is the purpose to eliminate the need to store avgas? That would be a great idea, because my biggest fear flying is that one day the fuel from my plane will burn me or an innocent by stander, i would hate for that to happen to someone.

Answer 7

for christ's sake...listen to Aviophag!...this is the biggest load of 130llox ...ive ever seen on this site...

Answer 8

No. It could not.

Elegant and Simple.

:)