An aerofoil section uses Bernoulli's Principle to generate lift by creating a difference in air pressure between the top & bottom surfaces of the aerofoil due to the curved surface (camber). Newton's third law of motion also acts as a complementary explanation for the lift generation.
The Angle of Attack is the acute angle between the chord line of an aerofoil & the vector representing the incoming airflow. Increasing the angle increases the lift, but beyond 15° to 20°, there will be an aerodynamic stall.
As crucial as the angle of attack mentioned above, is the angle at which the sitar string leaves the bridge. This, known as "Javari", defines the sound produced by the sitar. The front of the bridge is meticulously filed to a rounded shape (in fact, parabolic as defined by the equation X=Y squared), just like the rounded front edge of the aerofoil section adapted for the wings of an aircraft.
As the rounded front of the aerofoil section is important for developing optimum lift for the aircraft, so is the parabolic rounding of the bridge (javari) to an accuracy of a tenth of a milimeter, crucial for the typical sound of the sitar.
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