What is the effect of increasing dihedral on an airplane's lateral stability?

Increasing dihedral on an airplane enhances its lateral stability. Dihedral refers to the upward angle of the airplane's wings relative to the horizontal plane. When an aircraft with dihedral encounters a disturbance, such as turbulence that causes one wing to drop, the airplane naturally tends to right itself.

This happens because as one wing descends, the other wing rises, resulting in an increase in the lift on the rising wing and a corresponding decrease on the descending wing. The asymmetric lift creates a restoring moment that helps return the aircraft to level flight. Therefore, the more pronounced the dihedral angle, the more effective the airplane is at maintaining its stability during lateral disturbances, thus increasing overall lateral stability.

In contrast, designs with little to no dihedral might experience a lack of automatic corrective movements, which can lead to greater susceptibility to rolling motions and decreased stability.