Sewall 1 Christian P. Sewall Mr.

Peterson Science 1st period April 29, 2011

Components of Flight
From the ancient Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, to Leonardo Da Vincis first attempts at light in the 15th century, humans have looked up at the sky and have wondered how to harness the air, and soar like the birds. Now, in the last one hundred years aircraft have gone from making a twelve second flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to sending a group of men to the moon on the Apollo mission. The aircraft soar seemingly effortlessly through fluid, a substance either gas or liquid in which particles can move freely, but all is not as it seems as there more to flying than meets the eye. Certain factors including aerodynamic surfaces and air pressure affect how these different aircraft fly. The airplane is perhaps one of the most important inventions ever. There are many different parts of the plane, the first and most important part is the fuselage. The fuselage is the cigar shaped area of the plane that houses the cockpit, cargo area and the passengers. The cockpit, which is inside the fuselage, is where the pilot controls the plane. Attached to the fuselage are the wings. The wings help the plane generate the lift they need to fly. The ailerons on the side of the wings control the planes roll (circular motion). The rudder which is usually attached to the aircrafts vertical stabilizer controls the yaw (side-to-side movement). The elevator, on the end of the plane is used to control the pitch (up and down movement) of the plane. If the ailerons, elevators, or rudder is adjusted the plane will rotate on one of the three axes of rotation. Another very important factor in flight is Newtons Laws of Motion. Newtons 1st Law states that an, object in motion tends to stay in motion until acted upon by an

Sewall 1 unbalanced force. This applies to an airplane when it is up in the air. For the airplane to travel at a constant speed the two opposing forces drag and thrust must exactly equal each other. The 2nd Law of Motion states that, the acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the force applied. This applies to an airplanes flight because an airplane has a large mass and the thrust applied to the airplane determines the amount of the acceleration that is put on the plane. The 3rd law of motion states that, for every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force. This applies to flight for example when air meets a airfoil the foil of the air is deflected up while the flow of the air is deflected down this action/reaction pair helps create the lift for the plane. Another important component of airplane flight is Bernoullis Principle this states that, The pressure (force exerted on an object) in a fluid decreases as the fluids velocity increases. The camber of the wing forces the fluid that is flowing over it to speed up in order for it to reach the air that moving under the wing on the opposite side. The Four Principles of Flight are the key foundation to a planes staying up in the air. The four principles are thrust, lift, weight, and drag. The first one I will be focusing on is thrust. Thrust is the forward motion of a plane; it is created by the engines of the plane. The force opposing thrust is drag. Drag, the 2nd principle is the force that opposes thrust. Drag is also known as air resistance is caused by the shaping of a plane. The bulkier and more angle-like the plane is the more air resistance it will have on it, but if it has a smoother more streamlined shape it will increase the aerodynamic shape of the plane and reduce the air friction on the surfaces of the plane. The science of aerodynamics has evolved tremendously. The first planes like the one a Kitty Hawk were big and bulky, but they have evolved since to be much more aerodynamic. The two other principals of flight weight and lift are the second pair of opposing forces. Weight is the principle that is related to gravity (the force that attracts all terrestrial objects). It is the downwards push on an airplane and is opposed by lift. Lift is the 4th principle of flight and it is the rising of the flying object. On an airplane if the wings are parallel to the ground it is

Sewall 1 impossible to achieve lift, but if the wings are at an angle of at least ten degrees the airplane will begin to rise. What do a sailplane, hang glider, and paper airplane have in common? They are all gliders. The glider is similar in appearance to an airplane, but it lacks one of the major parts that an airplane possessesan engine. Like an airplane the cigar shaped body of the glider is the fuselage. As with airplanes a gliders fuselage contains a cockpit. Because a glider lacks a engine it is important for the manufactures of the glider to make the surface of the fuselage as aerodynamic as possible this means using light materials such as fiberglass to construct the gliders fuselage. A downside of the gliders light body is if it runs into turbulence while flying. Turbulence is the irregular motion of the atmosphere that is indicated by sudden gusts of wind. Because of its light structure if a glider is caught in turbulence it will be tossed around. Attached to the fuselage are the wings. On a glider the wings are one of the most important features because they lack an engine lift is important in a glider, as it maximizes the time allowed for the glider to stay in the air. The wings on a glider are very long and narrow and because of this they have less air resistance compared to the lift they make. As with airplanes the control surfaces of the glider are the ailerons which control the roll, the elevator which control the pitch of the glider and the rudder which controls the yaw of the glider. As with planes Newtons three laws of motion heavily influence the way gliders fly. Newtons 1st law states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion until acted upon by an unbalanced force. Since a glider lacks an engine, they have to be launched whether its by a hand throwing a paper airplane, or jumping off a cliff for hang gliding. This generates the thrust for the glider. Thrust, one of the four principles of flight is opposed by drag and that is the unbalanced force that will eventually make the glider stop flying. Newtons 2nd law applies to gliders because the acceleration of depends on the gliders mass and the amount of force you put on it. Newtons 3rd law applies to gliders the same way it applies to planes. The law states that every action force has an equal and opposite reaction force this is evident in gliders when there is air going over the

Sewall 1 wing the foil is deflected up and the flow of the air is deflected down as with airplanes this pair of forces generates lift. Bernoullis principle affects gliders the exact same way it affects planes, the flow of the air going over the wing of the plane has to speed up to reach the flow of the air going under the wing. The four principles of flight affect gliders in different ways than they affect planes. Since a glider does not have an engine it must be launched either by a towing or by jumping of a steep vertical face. Drag affects the glider as it would any other aircraft, but drag on a glider must be reduced as much as possible in order for the flight to be longer. Lift is also important on a glider the main source of lift for a glider is thermals, columns of heat that rise off the ground. Two other types of lift for gliders are possible. Hill lift is when wind is flowing and it meets a hill the wind rises and creates lift when glider comes into contact with it. The second type of lift is wave lift; this is caused when a wave system sets up in the atmosphere. The flowing air in the system can be used by gliders to soar to a very high altitude. Weight affects a glider as it would any other aircraft. It pushes down on the glider and it is the force that opposes lift. The final type of aircraft is a rocket. In its simplest form a rocket is an enclosed chamber that has an opening letting air escape an example of this is a balloon that has been blown up and let go. Rocket powered devices have been around for two thousand years, but experimental rocketry has only started in the last three hundred years. The structural system of a rocket is very similar to the fuselage of an airplane. This system includes the fin of the rocket the guidance and propulsion systems. The top of the structural system has to be coated with thermal protection to keep out the heat of air friction and the coldness of space. The payload system at the top of a rocket can vary with the type of rocket being used if the rocket is being used for war than the payload system will contain explosives. In the case of a space rocket the payload system is the capsule. The guidance system is the complicated system that is full of computers that guide the rocket in flight. The final system of a rocket is the propulsion system. This system is made up of engines, tanks, pumps, and a combustion chamber. Newtons 1st law applies to

Sewall 1 rockets because it takes an unbalanced force to start the rocket, and it takes an unbalance force to make it stop. Newtons 2nd law applies to rockets because it takes a large amount of force to accelerate an object that has a mass of a rocket. A example of Newtons third law and rockets is when a rocket is having liftoff the action force is the gas coming out of the rocket and the reaction is the movement of the rocket this example perfectly explains Newtons 3rd law. Bernoullis principle affects rockets like it does in gliders and airplanes. The air flowing over the fins of the rocket have to move faster than the air flowing under the fins of the rocket. The four principles of flight also affect a rocket, but they affect rockets differently than airplanes. On an aircraft lift opposes weight, but on a rocket thrust opposes weight. Drag works the same way on aircraft except that it opposes thrust along with weight. Weight also works the same on a rocket it is the force of gravity pushing down on an object. Thrust has a different effect on a rocket thrust acts as lift and it opposes weight. Lift on a rocket happens when the air escaping meets a solid object. When this happens the flow of the air goes is one direction and the lift of the rocket is in the other direction. All aircraft are in some way similar, but some have defining qualities that make them unique. A plane for example is the only aircraft that has an engine for it to move forward and a glider is the only type of aircraft to not have an engine. The glider is also the only aircraft that has to rely on thermal columns to fly, and the glider is the only aircraft that has to be towed by a larger object in order for it to start flying. A similarity that all of these aircraft have is how Bernoullis principle affects them. One thing that is unique to both a glider and an airplane is its structure. They both have a cigar shaped fuselage and have two wings with very similar control surfaces. The gliders wings are longer because the glider lacks an engine it needs to maximize its lift in order to have long flights. A rocket is also unique it is the only aircraft to have taken people off Earth. As these machines evolve and become more advanced the contrast between them with become greater and greater.

Sewall 1 In this world we rely on airplanes, for travel, research, business, and shipping. Where would we be without them? Aeronautics has evolved so much in the past hundred years and has given humans the opportunities to experience different cultures and expand the global economy, and learn more about our solar system. Flight has had a big boost on the economy of the world from the people that make the planes at Lockheed to the pilots that fly them to the employees at the airport airplanes have had a huge impact on the economy by transporting people and providing jobs for employees. Air travel has also been a way for people to get where they need to go faster in the 1800s you could only get to Australia of New Zealand in a boat and that took about a month. Now you can take a plane and get there in a day. Besides transporting people rockets have provided a handful of people the opportunity to conduct priceless research on the moon. And only time will tell what further advancements will be made to aeronautics.