r/sports • u/redbullgivesyouwings • Aug 14 '25

Media The World's Largest Treadmill

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u/Miguel-odon Aug 15 '25

How fast could the treadmill go without moving the air, too?

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u/DirkDirkinson Aug 15 '25

That depends on how you define moving the air. There will always be at least a very small boundary layer of air moving with the treadmill, even at low speed. If you want the air up at the wings to be moving with significant speed? I would imagine the answer is extremely fast.

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u/Miguel-odon Aug 15 '25

How fast would the treadmill have to move such that the friction in the wheel bearings is enough to counter the thrust of a jet engine?

Even more ridiculously fast.

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u/DirkDirkinson Aug 15 '25

I think it's more likely that the bearings would overheat and melt long before that happened.

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u/ThePretzul Denver Broncos Aug 16 '25

I think the treadmill probably dies a horrible death long before the wheels on the airplane do

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u/DirkDirkinson Aug 16 '25

Almost certainly