Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aircraft
An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. A first division by design among aircraft is between lighter-than-air, aerostat, and heavier-than-air aircraft, aerodyne. Examples of lighter-than-air aircraft include non-steerable balloons, such as hot air balloons and gas balloons, and steerable airships (sometimes called dirigible balloons) such as blimps (that have non-rigid construction) and rigid airships that have an internal frame. In heavier-than-air aircraft, there are two ways to produce lift: aerodynamic lift and engine lift. In the case of aerodynamic lift, the aircraft is kept in the air by wings or rotors (see aerodynamics). With engine lift, the aircraft defeats gravity by use of vertical thrust. Examples of engine lift aircraft are rockets, and VTOL aircraft such as the Hawker-Siddeley Harrier. Among aerodynamically lifted aircraft, most fall in the category of fixed-wing aircraft, where horizontal airfoils produce lift, by profiting from airflow patterns determined by Bernoulli's equation and, to some extent, the Coanda effect.
Related Stories
1
2
Matter & Energy News
May 24, 2026
May 24, 2026 Scientists have directly watched angular momentum move through a crystal for the very first time — and discovered a bizarre twist along the way. Using ultra-powerful terahertz laser pulses, researchers triggered tiny atomic rotations inside a ...
May 23, 2026 A breakthrough lithium-extraction method could help solve one of clean energy’s dirtiest problems. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a fast new technique that pulls lithium ...
May 22, 2026 Scientists in Germany have demonstrated a startling new form of surveillance: identifying people using nothing more than ordinary WiFi signals. By analyzing how radio waves bounce around a room, researchers can effectively “see” and recognize ...
May 22, 2026 Researchers have discovered how to fine-tune a futuristic type of porous glass that can trap gases like CO2 and hydrogen. Inspired by centuries-old glassmaking techniques, the team added sodium and ...
May 21, 2026 Scientists have finally figured out how mysterious “breather” laser pulses work, solving a puzzle that has frustrated laser physicists for years. These unusual ultrafast lasers produce light pulses that rhythmically grow and shrink instead of ...
May 20, 2026 Researchers have built an ultra-sensitive sensor capable of detecting unimaginably small amounts of energy — below one zeptojoule. The breakthrough relies on fragile superconducting materials that react to even the slightest temperature change. ...
May 20, 2026 Scientists in Canada have discovered that ancient underground rocks are naturally producing hydrogen gas — and lots of it. Measurements from mine boreholes in Ontario show the gas can flow continuously for years, offering a potential new source of ...
May 20, 2026 Researchers have developed a light-driven method for creating tiny, high-energy “housane” molecules that are valuable for drug development and materials science. These compact ring-shaped structures are difficult to produce because of the ...
May 19, 2026 Scientists spent decades chasing signs of a mysterious new force hidden inside the muon, one of nature’s strangest particles. But after years of supercomputer calculations, researchers discovered the apparent anomaly was likely a calculation error ...
May 18, 2026 Scientists at the University of Cambridge have achieved what was once considered impossible by electrically powering insulating nanoparticles to create a completely new kind of LED. Using tiny organic “molecular antennas,” the team found a way ...
May 18, 2026 Researchers have developed a durable new catalyst that produces clean hydrogen without relying on expensive platinum metals. The breakthrough could make renewable hydrogen fuel cheaper, more efficient, and easier to scale for real-world energy ...
May 18, 2026 Electric vehicles are pushing scientists to tackle one of the biggest hidden energy drains inside electric motors: magnetic energy loss. Now, researchers in Japan have developed a powerful AI-driven ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
May 24, 2026 A mysterious particle from deep space has scientists buzzing after the most energetic neutrino ever detected slammed through the Mediterranean Sea. ...
May 22, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a strange hidden structure formed during the creation of metallocenes, a class of sandwich-like molecules used in everything from catalysis to medicine. The newly ...
May 21, 2026 Physicists at Peking University have uncovered a new way to confine light far beyond conventional limits — without relying on metals and their ...
May 19, 2026 Black holes crashing together may be revealing clues about dark matter hidden across the universe. Physicists created a new model predicting how dark matter could subtly distort gravitational waves ...
May 19, 2026 Physicists may have uncovered a surprising new clue that string theory—the idea that the universe is built from unimaginably tiny vibrating strings—could be more than just a mathematical fantasy. ...
May 18, 2026 For more than 200 years, scientists have struggled to pin down the exact strength of gravity — and one physicist spent a decade chasing the answer ...
May 17, 2026 Scientists have achieved something that once sounded almost impossible: using ordinary sunlight to create quantum-linked photon pairs, a phenomenon normally dependent on precise laboratory lasers. By ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have created a remarkable new material that works like a “rechargeable solar battery,” storing sunlight inside ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists studying mysterious ultra-powerful cosmic rays have uncovered a surprising hidden pattern that could finally help explain where these particles come from. Using the DAMPE space telescope, ...
May 13, 2026 For nearly 100 years, reinforced rubber has powered everything from car tires to airplanes, yet scientists never fully understood why adding tiny particles of carbon black made rubber so incredibly ...