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That explanation doesn’t work if the wing is completely flat (with nothing to force the air up), which if you ever made a paper airplane flies just fine. All these explanations miss a very significant thing: air is a fluid where every molecule collides with _billions_ of other molecules every second, and the wing distorts the airflow all around it, with significant effects up to a wingspan away in all directions.


That's a separate component of lift, unrelated to the shape. Any surface will produce lift if angled into moving air, deflecting the air downward.

The explanation we're talking about is why cambered wings generate lift when flying level.




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