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You're speeding down the track in Nitro Type, fingers flying across the keyboard, chasing that new high score. You're pushing your car to the limit, but did you know real-life helicopters have a speed limit too? And no, it's not because they'll get pulled over by the sky police.
It all comes down to physics, specifically something called "dissymmetry of lift." Let's break it down:
- Think of a helicopter's blades like your hands spinning in a circle. As the helicopter moves forward, the blade spinning in the same direction (the advancing blade) is actually moving faster relative to the air.
- The opposite is true for the retreating blade. It's moving against the direction of the helicopter, so its relative airspeed is slower.
This difference in airspeed creates a difference in lift. To compensate, the retreating blade is angled to generate more lift. This works fine... to a point.
Here's where the speed limit kicks in: If the helicopter flies too fast, the retreating blade has to be angled so much that it actually loses lift. This is called a retreating blade stall, and it can be dangerous.
Luckily, it's often self-correcting. The stall causes the helicopter to pitch, naturally slowing it down and allowing the retreating blade to regain lift.
Think about that the next time you're pushing your luck in Nitro Type. Just like those helicopter blades, there's a limit to how fast you can go before things get messy!
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