ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Zero-lift drag coefficient

Okay kiddo, imagine you're in a car going really fast down the road. Have you ever stuck your hand out the window and felt the wind pushing against your hand? That feeling is a force called drag, and it's what happens when air flows or moves past something.

Now, imagine that instead of a car, you're sitting in an airplane, and instead of your hand, the airplane is moving through the air. Airplanes also have to deal with drag, and sometimes engineers want to know how much drag an airplane will experience before they even build it.

That's where the zero-lift drag coefficient comes in. It's a fancy term that measures how much drag an object (like an airplane) will feel when it's not generating any lift. Lift is what happens when air flows over an object in a way that causes it to rise up, like how a bird flies.

So, the zero-lift drag coefficient helps people figure out how much drag an airplane will feel when it's just flying straight and level, with no lift. By understanding this, engineers can design airplanes that are more fuel-efficient and can fly farther or faster without running out of gas.

In short, the zero-lift drag coefficient is a measure of how much drag an airplane will feel when it's not generating any lift, which helps engineers design better airplanes.