Editing Jet force (section)

== Thrust, lift, weight and drag ==
The jet force can be divided into components. The "forward" component of this force is generally referred to as [[thrust]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/thrust1.html |title=What is Thrust? |publisher=Glenn Research Center, NASA |access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref> The upward component of jet force is referred to as [[Lift (force)|lift]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://howthingsfly.si.edu/forces-flight/four-forces |title=The Four Forces |website=How Things Fly |publisher=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref> There are also two other forces that impact motion of aircraft. [[Drag (physics)|Drag]], which is also referred to as air resistance, is the force that opposes motion. As such, it acts against both components of the jet force (both the thrust and the lift). The fourth and final force is the weight itself, which acts directly downward.

=== Thrust ===
To analyze thrust, we take a mathematical perspective.

# First, an aircraft takes off at some angle with respect to the ground. For a rocket traveling straight "up", this angle would be 90°, or at least close to 90°. For airplanes and most other aircraft, this angle will be much less, generally ranging from 0° to 60°. We shall define this angle as θ.
# θ is constantly changing as the aircraft moves around. At any given moment, however, the cosine of this angle θ will give us the component of the force that is acting in the forward direction. Multiplying the total force by this cosine of θ would yield the thrust: <math display="block">\text{Thrust} = \text{Jet Force} \times \cos\theta</math>

Because θ ranges from 0° to 90° and the cosine of any angle in this range is 0 ≤ cos&nbsp;θ≤ 1, the thrust will always be either less than or equal to the jet force- as expected, as the thrust is a component of the jet force.

=== Lift ===
Similar to our analysis of thrust, we begin with a mathematical look:

# We define angle θ the same way we did in step 1 for thrust. Again, this angle θ is different at any given time.
# For lift, however, we are looking for the vertical component, rather than the forward component. The sine of angle θ will give us the component of the force acting in vertical component. Multiplying the jet force by the sine of θ will yield the lift: <math display="block">\text{Lift} = \text{Jet Force} \times \sin\theta</math>

Similar to cosine, the sine of an angle ranging from 0° to 90° will always between at least zero and at most one. As such, the lift will also be less than the jet force. Of jet force, lift and thrust, we can find any one of these if the other two are given using the distance formula. In this case, that would be:
<math display="block">\text{Jet Force} = \sqrt{\text{Thrust}^2 + \text{Lift}^2}</math>

As such, jet force, thrust and lift are inherently linked.

=== Drag ===
Drag, or air resistance, is a force that opposes motion. Since the thrust is a force that provides "forward motion" and, lift one that produces "upward motion", the drag opposes both of these forces. Air resistance is friction between the air itself and the moving object (in this case the aircraft). The calculation of air resistance is far more complicated than that of thrust and lift- it has to do with the material of the aircraft, the speed of the aircraft and other variable factors. However, rockets and airplanes are built with materials and in shapes that minimize drag force, maximizing the force that moves the aircraft upward/forward.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://howthingsfly.si.edu/aerodynamics | title=Aerodynamics |website=How Things Fly |publisher=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref>

=== Weight ===
Weight is the downward force that the lift must overcome to produce upward movement. On earth, weight is fairly easy to calculate:
<math display="block">\text{Weight} = mg </math>

In this equation, m represents the mass of the object and g is the acceleration that is produced by gravity. On earth, this value is approximately 9.8&nbsp;m/s squared. When the force for lift is greater than the force of weight, the aircraft accelerates upwards.