| MadSci Network: Physics |
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When a plane flies upside down will the contents of a glass spill. If not
why? If so, is there a way to fly inverted and not spill a glass.
It depends on the forces acting on the liquid in the glass. If the airplane is just flying straight, turning upside down will spill everything. In the days of open cockpits, unwary (or excessively macho) pilots sometimes killed themselves doing "barrel rolls" because they neglected to fasten their seat belts. On the other hand, if the plane is inverted while executing a loop, there will probably be enough g-force toward the outside of the loop to keep everything in place.
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