Teller Elementary School: Passion Pursuit

Flight

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who... looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space... on the infinite highway of the air.” Wilbur Wright

1. Why wasn’t man meant to fly? Use the four forces of flight to explain why humans are not built to fly like birds!

2. How do gravity and air pressure affect flight? How are they overcome?

3. What makes a hot air balloon or blimp float? Make an “airship” using the directions on pages 20-21 in Make it Work: Flight.

4. Based upon what you already know about the Bernoulli Principle, how do stunt planes fly upside down?

5. How is the air moving around a wing like water in a river?

6. Try the Bernoulli brain teasers on http://howthingsfly.si.edu/sites/default/files/attachment/BernoulliBrain- Teasers.pdf 7. How does lift work with a helicopter? To make a rotor model, see pages 40-41 in Make it Work: Flight.

8. How does a VTOL aircraft work? How is that similar or different from a helicopter? How is that similar or different from an airplane? To make a VTOL model, see pages 42-43 in Make it Work: Flight.

9. What are the three types of drag and how does each one affect an airplane? Try showing these types of drags using diagrams, animation, or another creative display.

10. Compare and contrast propeller, jet, and rocket engines. How does each work? What are the pros and cons of each? How does each produce thrust? Include Newton’s Third Law of Motion in your explanations.

11. Are there other types of engines used in aviation? Can you create a new type of engine?

12. How do gliders work since there is no source of power? To experiment further with gliders, see pages 22-23 in Make it Work: Flight.

13. What materials are used to build aircraft and what are the pros and cons of each? How do these materials and their pros and cons compare to the materials used when building a bridge?

14. Explain how planes are controlled using the concepts of yaw, pitch, and roll. What instruments in the plane are used to control the yaw, pitch, and roll? To experiment further with flight control, see pages 36-39 in Make it Work: Flight.

15. How does a pilot stay oriented even when he/she cannot see the ground? What cockpit instruments are used?

16. Go to http://howthingsfly.si.edu/activities to see a series of experiments and activities related to flight.

17. See Ms. Bass to get Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections. A helicopter and an airplane are included in GREAT DETAIL. Could you create a page for this book for a different type of aircraft? 18. A new stealth bomber has just been released; the B-21. Obviously, it is supposed to be top secret! What do we know about it and how it works?

19. There are many other projects that you can experiment with in Make it Work: Flight. See Ms. Bass.

20. Create your own project that is related to flight.