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| Event Details |
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12/07/2006 |
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| Flight in Earth's Skies |
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Target Audience:
Students
Grade Level:
K-4,5-8,9-12
Event Focus :
You and your class are given a challenge to build an actual flying airplane in six months. A local foundation is going to supply you with anything you with any materials you request. How are you going to get a machine that weighs several hundred or even thousands of pounds into the air, what is going to keep it there, and how are you going to maneuver it safely back to the ground?
Description:
Every part on an airplane is there for a reason. As a pilot you must be able to control your machine in the air in three dimensions. This event will help you see what each of these parts do, how they apply force, and how an airplane moves in the air. You will understand how and why airplanes stay in the air and go where the pilot wishes.
Instructional Objectives:
- At least 90% of the participants will recognize that it is the wings that provide the lifting force.
- At least 80% of participants will be able to compare and contrast the opposing forces on an aircraft, lift versus weight and thrust versus drag.
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| Sequence of Events |
Pre-Conference Activities: |
| Do larger wings make planes fly better? Is streamlining more important than wing area? What will happen is wings or rudders are twisted? Paper airplanes are a great way to answer some questions about flight and aerodynamics. Have students set up a paper airplane aeronautics lab to investigate some of their questions. Afterwards hold an airshow with contests for distance, time aloft, most acrobatic, and best looking. Some good sites for paper plane directions are:
http://www.josephpalmer.com/planes/Airplane.shtml
http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/
http://www.paperairplanes.co.uk/planes.php
If you don't want to fold paper airplanes, you can have a virtual contest with this model airplane simulator. Have students record their data for five trials and see who can generate the longest flight.
http://www.workman.com/etcetera/games/fliersclub/
Take the on-line pre-lesson Assessment quiz.
VOCABULARY Aileron: A moveable flap on the outer trailing edge of wings that cause the plane to roll. Stunt pilots can use ailerons to make an airplane roll completely over, called a "Barrel Roll".
Drag: A force that counteracts the motion of an aircraft through the air. It is opposed by thrust. Streamlining an airplane's shape helps to reduce drag.
Elevator: Moveable flaps on the horizontal part of the tail section that cause the plane to pitch up and down. On the first airplane, the Wright brothers had their elevator on the front.
Lift: a force that moves an airplane in an upward direction. It counteracts weight and is created by turning air, mainly by the wings.
Pitch: A movement of the airplane up or down caused by the elevators.
Roll: this occurs when the airplane rotates one wing up and the other wing down. Airplanes use ailerons to roll when they make a turn. In the first airplane, the Wright brothers twisted their wings to cause roll.
Rudder: A moveable vertical flap on the tail of the airplane that causes the plane to yaw left and right. The rudder keeps the nose of the aircraft pointed in the direction of a turn. It also keeps the airplane pointed straight when in level flight.
Thrust: The force created by the engine that pushes the aircraft forward. It is generated mainly to overcome drag. Some jets are so powerful that they can fly straight up, the thrust from the engine overcoming gravity.
Weight: A force due to gravity. Weight is constantly acting on an airplane. Early airplanes were of cloth and wires to save weight. Today's planes have a skin of lightweight metal over an open framework for the same reason.
Yaw: A movement of the nose of the airplane left or right caused by the rudder. Airplanes cannot turn with yaw only, they must also roll at the same time, just like a bicycle leans in a turn. |
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+ On-line pre-event assessment quiz
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Videoconference Activities: |
| In this activity the presenter will cover such topics as flight in nature, the four forces of flight, how to control an aircraft in three dimensions, and how rockets differ from airplanes. He will use pictures, diagrams, models, and video as well as a blue screen to involve students. He will begin with questions that will help establish the students current ideas about what it takes to fly and will build upon their knowledge and dispel misconceptions.
Some key concepts that will be presented are that wings generate lift by turning moving air and that propulsion systems generate thrust only to overcome drag. Drag will be explained by the use of models and student interaction. The four forces of flight will be described in detail. Using pictures of aircraft through history the presenter will discuss the control surfaces that all aircraft have in common and will compare and contrast early plane to those flying today. Through the use of models the nature of how rockets work will be contrasted to the way that airplanes fly.
Some of the questions that the presenter may ask are:
1. Do all things that fly in nature have wings? (yes they do)
2. Do all things that have wings fly? (no, there are flightless birds)
3. What is the function of wings in flying? (upward or lift force)
4. What force on an airplane is always working and never changes? (weight)
5. Why do you think airplanes have streamlined shapes? (to help overcome drag when moving through the air)
6. Do engines keep airplanes up in the air? (no, the lift from the wings do this. The engines provide thrust to move the plane forward and overcome drag)
7. Compare the control of a car to the control of an airplane. How are they different? (a car is only controlled in one dimension, while an airplane must be controlled in three dimensions)
8. Can airplanes fly into space? (no, because they need to turn air to generate and to burn fuel in the engine)
9. Why don't rockets have wings? (they overcome weight by generating thrust to go straight up instead of using wings to generate lift.)
10. How can rockets burn fuel in space where there is no air? (rockets carry their own oxygen to burn the fuel) |
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Post-Conference Activities: |
| Retake the pre-conference Assesment quiz. Did your ideas improve after the videoconference? How important are wings in flight? Does the engine provide the lifting force for the airplane? Can airplanes fly in space like the Space Shuttle? Why are airplanes streamlined? Reflect on these questions and other things you learned in this videoconference and make a list of five things about how airplanes fly that you didn't know before. If you are going to build a plane, what do you think is the most important part?
RESOURCES Travel with a young, black pilot who built his own airplane and flew solo around the world at http://www.experienceaviation.org/
To learn more about how planes fly and to do some experiments on air pressure go to http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/AERO/princ1.htm
Apply what you have learned to flying radio controlled planes at
http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/how-airplanes-fly.html
Some good sources of aeronautic activities and lesson plans are:
Aeronautics Learning Laboratory for Science, Technology, and Research Network
Florida International University
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/
Aviation Academy 2000
Memphis City Schools
http://www.mecca.org/~tschieff/AVIATION/ACADEMY/nasa.html
K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook
http://wings.avkids.com/
Plane Math: An Internet-based Curriculum on Math and Aeronautics for Children with Physical Disabilities
http://www.planemath.com/
NASA Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics - a comprehensive guide covering all aspects of flight
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bga.html
NASA Beginner's Guide to Model Rockets - contains an interactive application where students can design and test all types of rockets
http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/bgmr.html
Go beyond airplanes to see how helicopters fly and are controlled at
http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/how-helicopters-fly.html
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+ On-line post-event assessment quiz
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| Standards |
NSTA Science Content Standards: 5-8 PHYSICAL SCIENCE CONTENT STANDARD B:
MOTIONS AND FORCES
An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant speed and in a straight line. If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line, then the forces will reinforce or cancel one another, depending on their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes in the speed or direction of an object's motion. The motion of an aircraft is a balance of the forces of lift, weight, thrust, and drag.
SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES CONTENT STANDARD F:
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within societies. People and goods now travel quickly around the globe.
NSTA Science Content Standards: 9-12
PHYSICAL SCIENCE CONTENT STANDARD B:
MOTIONS AND FORCES
Objects change their motion only when a net force is applied. Airplanes create lift by turning air. Laws of motion are used to calculate precisely the effects of forces on the motion of objects. The magnitude of the change in motion can be calculated using the relationship F = ma, which is independent of the nature of the force. Aircraft have advanced largely due to improvements in engines to develop more thrust. Whenever one object exerts force on another, a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction is exerted on the first object.This is how rockets get into the air and beyond. |
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