Myths

Seen both of these.
To elaborate on the airplane myth, the conveyor belt is going in the opposite direction of the plane at the exact same speed.

I don't think they are scared of mice as they probably can't see them on the ground as their eyes can't look down that far.  ha ha ha

Never heard that myth before--I would guess it could for some weird reason.

On the first one, I would guess no, they aren't really scared of nice.

On the second one, I happened to see the episode so won't say. My related question, though, is if an airplane is not moving (it's engine is not running) and then you start a conveyor belt underneath it moving forward at take-off speed, will the plane take off? They didn't talk about that and I wondered.

heh good question aimee.  I would think that once the airplane was at take-off speed on the conveyor belt, it would just never get off the ground, because at the same very moment of lift, it loses any forward propulsion, and falls to earth again.  Much like a paper plane.  You throw it, but the second it leaves your hand, it is technically "falling with style". 

 

It would be a very funny experiment though.  Because at full speed it might actually appear to be hopping on the conveyor belt, as it attempted to gain flight.  But just never would.

My guess is no and no.

I'd say no on one.

 

I don't really understand 2.  Is the plane rolling on the belt and the motor is running and propeller spinning?  I don't think it makes any difference belt or not, as long as the plane gets enough forward speed to get lift under the wings.  Doesnt matter if the wheels are spinning twice as fast as they should be.  If I'm understanding the scene correctly.

Sean's mechanically-inclined brain saw right through that myth. I'm impressed.

Right, so if for every foot the plane moves forward, the conveyor belt moves it one foot backward, then the plane always stays in the exact same spot on the runway, therefore having 0 forward speed, therefore having no wind, therefore getting no lift, therefore not taking off. Thats how i see it anyway, but i didnt see the show, so maybe i'm wrong.

No Jay Sean is right. The force moving the plane forward is the propeller, independent from the conveyor belt. All the conveyor belt will do is make the wheels spin twice as fast.

If that scenario had included java script Jay would have understood it.

yep, the airplane taking off has nothing to do with the ground below it.  so yah, the wheels just spin twice as fast, if the conveyor belt is going in the reverse direction.   but the plane can take off cuz it is the propeller "pulling it" into the air.     I figured it out before they started too, but they said it was the most requested myth to perform on their show... just took them forever to figure out how to test it.

 

they finally figured out how to get a gigantic tarp and pull it behind a powerful pickup truck going opposite the plane.   the plane took off no problem.

and elephants ARE scared of mice.   They took a piece of elephant poo, and hollowed it out, and hid a mouse under it, and tied a long piece of fishing line to it to pull.  Then when an elephant got close, they pulled the string and tipped over the poo, and out popped the white mouse.  The wild elephants completely flinched when they saw it, and noticeably changed where they were going.  It blew them away - they never guessed it would scare them.   They did this multiple times, and it was very obvious that the elephants hated that mouse.

 

They also did a control test of just pulling over the poo, with no mouse under it, to see if it was the movement of the poo that spooked the elephant, but it didnt even flinch.

My guess is no and no.... ok, I guess I was wrong and wrong.

watched them both on youtube. doesn't look like the tarp is matching the speed of the plane. the plane seems to be going a lot faster and picking up wind/speed.

Thanks for the info.  I am glad I know this now.