Physics of Flight 1
Physics of Flight 2
Physics of Flight 3
Physics of Flight 4
Physics of Flight 5
100
What is an airfoil?
A shape designed to produce lift
100
Come up to the board and draw any one of the airfoils we have learned about.
Teacher approval.
100
Come up to the board and label the leading edge and trailing edge of the wing on the board.
100
What are the three most common types of airfoils?
Flat bottom airfoils, Symmetrical Airfoils, and curved airfoils.
100
What type of airplane might use symmetrical airfoils?
Jets
200
What are the three most common descriptions of lift?
Popular, Mathematical, and Physical description of lift.
200
What would you use the Mathematical description of lift for?
Calculating wing efficiency on a computer
200
What kind of plane might use a curved airfoil?
Stunt planes
200
What type of airplane might use flat bottom airfoils?
Prop engine aircraft
200
If flat bottom airfoils generate the least amount of lift out of the three most common types of airfoils, why are flat bottom airfoils still widely used?
They are easy to manufacture and maintain.
300
Why do people often confuse the term wing and airfoil?
An airfoil is the shape of the cross section of a wing, not the wing itself.
300
What force explains why air will stick to a wing?
Viscosity
300
What force explains why air will follow the shape of a wing?
Coanda Effect
300
What is induced power?
How much thrust your aircraft is capable of producing from one or more engines.
300
What is parasitic power?
How much drag your aircraft has while in motion
400
What is Newton's First Law of Motion and how does it relate to an airplane?
A body at rest will remain at rest and a body in motion will remain in motion unless subjected to an external applied force.
It relates to aviation because it tell us a plane will not achieve lift without some outside force such as engine thrust or a wind moving over a wing.
400
What is one scenario that completely debunks the Theory of Equal Transit Times?
Airplanes flying inverted, symmetric airfoils, changes in wing load, changes in wind direction
400
What do the combination of Viscosity + the Coanda Effect produce at the trailing edge of wing?
A violent downwash of air
400
Why do symmetric airfoils need an angle of attack to be able to fly?
If there is no angle of attack, the air going over the top and bottom of the wing will meet at the same time and leave the wing unaffected.
400
What is the Angle of Attack of a wing?
The angle between the chord line of the wing and the direction of the relative wind.
500
What is the Theory of Equal Transit Times?
States that air that separates at the leading edge of the wing must rejoin at the trailing edge. Because of this the air going over the top of the wing must go faster than the air going under the wing. This creates a low pressure system under the wing and produces lift.
500
1,000 Point Question
Come up to the board and draw and label a complete accurate description of the physical description of lift.
Teacher approval.
500
What is Newton's Second Law of Motion and how does it relate to Aviation?
Force = Mass times Acceleration
It relates to aviation by allowing us to calculate how much thrust we must generate to allow any given aircraft to fly.
500
What are two difficulties with Curved Airfoils?
They usually need to be fairly large to work, they usually need a specific angle of attack to fly, they are hard to manufacture
500
What is the Air-scoop? Come up to the board and draw it and also accurately describe it.
All the air affected above the wings of a plane