The torque effect experienced in
helicopters
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
and single
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
-powered aircraft is an example of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
's
third law of motion, that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
In helicopters, the torque effect causes the
main rotor
A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is the combination of several rotary wings (rotor blades) with a control system, that generates the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and the thrust that counteracts aerody ...
to turn the fuselage in the opposite direction from the rotor's spin. A
small tail rotor is the most common configuration to counter this phenomenon.
In a single-propeller plane, the torque effect causes the plane to turn upwards and left in response to the
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
turning the plane in the opposite direction of the propeller's clockwise spin.
External links
Aerospaceweb.org page on Torque effect
Aerospace engineering