• I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're being pedantic, but here's a picture anyway...

    Top one will produce a force if it's rotated relative to the oncoming air. Presumably at the expense of significant drag. Any difference in pressure is a consequence.

    Bottom one will generate lift at a neutral angle to the airflow, with minimal drag. Difference in pressure is deliberate.

  • The symmetrical aerofoil produces no lift at neutral AoA, but it produces lift in the same way as the cambered one does at a positive AoA. It’s not about air molecules smashing into the lower surface (just use a flat plate in that case), it’s lift due to pressure differential.

  • just use a flat plate

    Even tilting a barn door creates lift by raising pressure on one side and lowering it on the other 🙂

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