Vocabulary
What is a hypothesis
A concept or idea that you test through research and experiments.
What did our fans stimulate in our first lesson (Air Pressure and Flow) when we suspended our wings on a string?
The fans stimulated the air that would provide lift to an airplane
True or false: A kite must be made of both light AND rigid materials in order to be aerodynamic enough to take flight
True
Describe how our stomp rocket project works
Once we are done building the rocket, we attach it to our launching system. We stomp on a 2L bottle that is full of air on one end of the launching system. This air from the bottle thrusts our rockets forward once we stomp on them, allowing the paper rockets to launch.
What is seed dormancy?
Seed dormancy is when a viable seed is unable to germinate under conditions that would normally allow it to do so. It is as though the seed is "asleep". This is an evolutionary adaptation that helps ensure that seeds germinate when they are most likely to survive
What is gravity?
The force that pulls an object towards the center of the earth
What are the 4 main forces of flight? Draw an image to demonstrate them. You have 1 minute!
Thrust, Gravity, Lift, and Drag
What is air resistance?
The force that slows down an object moving through the air by creating friction when the object collides with air molecules
Draw a rocket on the board and label the 4 forces acting on it with arrows.
Forces: Drag and gravity (downward arrows) thrust, and lift (upward arrows)
True or false. High Aspect Ratio wings (long, thin wings) produce less drag.
True! High aspect ratio wings have one major advantage: because the wingtip has less area, there is less vortex-induced downwash, which means a lot less induced drag.
What is velocity and give an example
Velocity is the speed of an object in a particular direction. An example could be: the car is going 60/mph heading west
What is the typical shape of an airplane's wing? Draw on the board a typical wing shape and describe to the class.
Airplanes’ wings are curved on top and flatter on the bottom. That shape makes air flow over the top faster than under the bottom. As a result, less air pressure is on top of the wing. This lower pressure makes the wing, and the airplane it’s attached to, move up.
Name 3 ways a seed can travel
Air (Flight), Water (floating), Animals (Getting stuck on something)
Draw and label the 3 main parts of a rocket.
Nose - the top part of the rocket
Fuselage - the body of the rocket
Fins
What is angle of attack?
The angle at which the relative wind meets the chord line of the wing.
What is air pressure?
The force exerted by air on any surface in contact with it
Describe how our paper airplanes with the propellers and rubber bands worked.
Energy is stored in the rubber bands by turning the propeller.
When released, the energy from the rubber band turns the propeller, which generates lift.
Name a seed that has high air resistance, a seed that travels by floating, and a seed that travels with the help of animals
High air resistance: dandelion seed, maple seed, resin tree seed
Floating: coconut seed, lotus seed pod, mangrove seed
Animals: Burr seed, foxtail seeds, avens seed
The nose helps split the air as the rocket is launched, reducing drag and providing an air resistant design.
The fins help with trajectory and also provide an aerodynamic element to the design.
What is torque in a helicopter?
In helicopters, the torque effect causes the main propeller to turn the body of the helicopter in the opposite direction from the propeller's spin. A small tail rotor (propeller) is the most common solution to counter this phenomenon so the helicopter is not left spinning as the propeller spins.
What is Bernoulli's Principle?
Faster-moving fluid (aka air) creates lower pressure. Slower moving fluid (air) creates higher pressure
Draw and explain Bernoulli's Principle using the balloon icebreaker we did.
We had 2 balloons filled with air hanging next to each other. When we blew air in between the two balloons, instead of going apart, the balloons came together. This happened because of Bernoulli's principle. When we blew air in the middle, we were decreasing the air pressure in the middle with the faster moving air. The higher air pressure on the outside of the balloons caused the balloons to come together.
Where is the most tension from a kite coming from?
It is coming from the kite line (aka the bridle string attached to kite)
What is apogee?
the highest altitude an object (such as a rocket) reaches during flight
Black powder