Abstract
THE reason why a real fluid can leave the surface is now well understood, but the calculation of the precise point at which it will do so is still a matter of great difficulty, over which we are only just beginning to obtain the mastery. It is still true, in the main, to say that the question whether or not a given body will give a good streamline flow can be determined only by experiment, and it is entirely for this reason that it has been found worth while, in the countries interested in aeronautical development, to spend large sums of money on the construction of huge wind tunnels, within which the necessary experiments can be made. Even in these tunnels the question cannot be settled with absolute certainty, and research workers are turning more and more to face the difficult technique of experimenting in actual flight, to determine how nearly the flow about actual aeroplanes approaches the ideal streamline form.
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Jones, B. Speed. Nature 136, 496–498 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136496a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136496a0