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On a recent vlog, YouTuber CGP Grey mentioned how much the wing of the plane he was on bent. I understand that wings are designed to bend a little, but what actually causes so much deformation?

Here it's a video of it:

Why does this happen?

Pondlife
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AncientSwordRage
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    Why does this happen? Because its designed to. – Ron Beyer Jun 01 '17 at 21:26
  • @RonBeyer I get that it can, what physically makes it bend? – AncientSwordRage Jun 01 '17 at 22:08
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    @Pureferret, the weight of the aircraft it is carrying. – Jan Hudec Jun 01 '17 at 22:11
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    The wing is quite literally holding the entire weight of the aircraft. Almost every kilogram is being held in the air by those wings! – Dan Jun 01 '17 at 22:11
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    I've no idea what the superimposed blue line is. It's certainly not the position of the wing when unloaded. – David Richerby Jun 01 '17 at 23:23
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    This isn't a duplicate. The other question is asking what aspects of the design allow it to bend; this question is what causes the actual bending. – David Richerby Jun 01 '17 at 23:27
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    @ Ron Beyer how is your comment helpful? – Koyovis Jun 01 '17 at 23:46
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    This view of the wing is considerably foreshortened, which exaggerates the apparent flex. The flex seen in sailplanes is much more dramatic, and, I would guess, also more so in a 787 or A350 - though not to sailplane levels - on account of its composite wing (some hints in the video suggest this was a 747.) – sdenham Jun 02 '17 at 03:54
  • Grey has seriously disappointed me with this video and the remarks about wing flexing, I was expecting him to be more rational. – Federico Jun 02 '17 at 07:05
  • @dan I figured it would be a rigid design, and for mthe video, that the bending Grey noticed was unusual. – AncientSwordRage Jun 02 '17 at 08:52
  • @Pureferret define "unusual". saying "I've never seen it before" does not make it unusual. – Federico Jun 02 '17 at 12:53
  • @Federico unusual, as in not usual. That is to say Grey implied compared to what he usually saw, the wing bending so much was 'not usual'. – AncientSwordRage Jun 02 '17 at 14:38
  • @Pureferret that's my point. the fact that one person does not usually see it, does not make the thing not usual. – Federico Jun 02 '17 at 15:26
  • @sdenham I was about to ask what plane it was. – SQB Jun 08 '17 at 07:21

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Because that wing is a cantilevered beam which is now supporting over half the weight of the jet on it. This causes the wing to flex, much like a leaf spring, when loaded. While fascinating to watch this is benign and designed to do this. In addition, this wing flexure helps to absorb bumps, air turbulence, dampen flutter, maneuvering loadings, etc. much like the coil springs in your car's suspension do. Don't be alarmed to see this. Those wing structures have been tested to far worse loads and conditions that you will ever see on a revenue carrying flight before failure occurs. A 747's wingtips can flex by as much as 12ft up/down during flight. Newer composite wings are capable of much greater flexure.

This was video shot of Boeing's destructive testing on the 777 wing. Note the wingtip flexes by as much as 20ft upward at a loading over 150% that of its design load limits before structural failure occurred.

Romeo_4808N
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