[tgrayson]

Originally Posted by Sandesh

Can anybody explain to me what static and dynamic pressure and how it relates to lift?
Sandesh.

A volume of air contains energy in two forms (for the sake of this discussion), kinetic and potential. Static pressure is a measure of the potential energy per volume air and dynamic pressure is a measure of the kinetic energy per volume air. You can convert kinetic energy into potential and potential into kinetic, but the sum total remains the same.

If you use the potential energy contained in the airflow to accelerate it, kinetic energy increases. Due to Law of Conservation of Energy, the same airflow will experience a loss of potential energy, meaning the pressure will drop.

An airfoil is designed to accelerate the airflow over the top, and hopefully slow it on the bottom. Due to the above effect, the pressure on top will fall and the pressure on the bottom will go up. The net result is a force in the upward direction.