how do airoplanes stay in the air? – Green Chemistry Zone

Question: how do airoplanes stay in the air?
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- Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
  
  aeroplane
Asked by lottiexo to Alan, Becky, Jo, Sankar, Sarah on 11 Mar 2015.
- Alan McCue answered on 11 Mar 2015:
  
  Its quite complex but essentially when the plane is flying along there is a force acting downwards (gravity) and a force acting upwards (lift). As long at these forces are equal then the plane should stay in the air (eg, the force acting down is no larger than the force acting upwards). That is a very simple answer though 🙂
- Becky Gregory answered on 12 Mar 2015:
  
  Good question. The plane’s engines are able to make the plane fly extremely fast. Air flows over the wings of the plane very fast as it moves through the sky, causing air to be forced downwards. This generates what is known as lift, which is a force that enables the huge plane to overcome its weight, balancing out the gravity acting downwards. This results in the plane remaining in the sky.

Question: how do airoplanes stay in the air?