The Airplane Propellor

One thing that I have found fascinating about the propellor is the way that it is shaped. Its shape represents a symbolic icon in flight and aviation. No matter what color, what size, what material the extractated twist of the blade from the blade tip to the root is undisputedly recognizable by anyone inside or outside the aviation community.

Investigating beyond overall look of the propellor is even more enthralling. The propellor is actually shaped like a wing. if you were to study the form characteristics of the blade to that of the surface area of a wing, you will quickly discover  similarities. Specifically, from the leading edge on top of the prop and the would exhibit the same curvature and design features, more rounded, where as the bottom, is a more flat surface. This is because, like the wing of an airplane, the prop is also responsible for generating lift. Looking further, the root of the prop blade is noticeably  more twisted, giving it iconic view as we discussed earlier.  The reason is because in order for lift to occur, the pressure on one side of the blade needs to be lower than the other side. Air traveling over the top of the wing has a greater velocity than the air below the wing, thus lower pressure resulting in life. Since the wing of an airplane is typically uniform and all surface area’s are impacting the air at the same velocity, lift is equal. However, unlike a wing, the propellor takes on different characteristics.  The propellor is not traveling through as much air evenly across the entire suirface. Namely, the tip of the prop is traveling through more particle of air than the root of the prop. The tip is covering a greater radius, than the root. Therefore, in order for the root of the prop to generate the same amount of lift as the tip of the propellor, it needs to have a much greater higher angle of attack, creating more lift.