AEROSPACE
DYNAMICS OF FLIGHT
H. B. Owens Science Center
AEROSPACE
Pre-Visit Activities
Dynamics of Flight - Learning Lab Pre-Visit
About our program:
Aerospace is presentation that incorporates a STEM (science, technology. engineering and
mathematics) approach to instruction that encourages learners to think across various
disciplines.
Students will first explore the science concepts of air and various pressures by observing
demonstrations and participating in a number of activities focusing on Bernoulli’s principle.
With an understanding of Bernoulli’s principle students will explore both technical and
engineering applications necessary to overcome the natural forces that are necessary to
achieve flight. Students discover the four basic principles of flight: weight, lift, thrust and
drag. Students will see the effects of gravity, air pressure, air resistance, and Newton's Third
Law on aircraft through demonstrations and activities. Through an airfoil design activity,
students analyze the effects of wind angle to the lift generated by an airfoil. Students will use
mathematics practices and applications to measure, understand and explain the use of
technology and engineering design necessary to achieve flight.
The following pages contain a variety of suggested activities and practices that will help in
your students understanding of the content and activities they will experience during their
visit to the Science Center.
The following urls are links to a variety of short video clips that demonstrate Bernoulli’s
principle. Visiting teachers can easily find additional and animation resources via the internet
that can also be brought into their presentations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvz_pS3pZ8s&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVKARF4Bg7Q&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDGNcmEOjs4&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxXPBOstpmE&feature=related
Bernoulli’s Principle
Content for teachers and students
Daniel Bernoulli was a Swiss scientist ( 1700 – 1782 ) who analyzed the pressures involved with
fluids. He found that stationary fluids such as air and water exert pressure in all directions. When
a fluid is moving slowly it has a higher pressure or more force; when the same fluid is moving
faster it has lower pressure or less force.
Materials
Paper (cut into strips about 5 cm wide X 15 cm long)
Index cards
Funnel with long narrow stem
Ping Pong balls
ACTIVITY: Part One
Review with students the properties of fluids.
Ask the students:
 Do fluids move?
 Do fluids exert pressure?
Explain to the students that they are going to investigate how air pressure changes.
Provide each student with a 5 cm X 15 cm strip of writing paper.
Demonstrate by placing the paper just below your bottom lip.
Ask: What do you think will happen if you blow over the top of this strip of paper?
Have the students test their predictions by blowing over the strip of paper and observing what
occurs.
Ask:


What happened to the paper?
Why do you think the paper lifted?
Explain that the air pressure moves quickly over the paper, causing low pressure. It is less
dense than air sitting under the paper strip. Moving air has less pressure than air that is
stationary. This means that the air under the paper is more dense and causes higher pressure.
This high pressure has greater force and, therefore exerts this force on the paper, causing it to
lift.
ACTIVITY: Part Two
Provide each student with an index card. Have
the students fold their cards in half and stand
it upright on a table.
Challenge the students to blow the card off the table by blowing underneath it (through the
“tunnel” opening}.
Ask:




What did you observe when you were blowing underneath the card?
What properties does stationary air have?
When blowing underneath the card, what is different about the air underneath the card
compared to the air above the card?
Why do you think the card did not blow off the table?
Explain that stationary air exerts more pressure than flowing air exerts. The faster the
flowing air, the lower the pressure it exerts. By blowing underneath the card, an area of low
pressure is created, so the pressure above the card is much greater. This is why the card got
pressed down against the table.
ACTIVITY: Part Three
Display a funnel and a ping pong ball.
Ask: Do you think I can hold a ping pong ball
with the funnel without sucking through the
funnel or touching the ball?
Elicit ideas from the students on how this can be
accomplished. Now pick up the funnel by the
stem, place it over the ball, and blow through the
stem. Lift the funnel while blowing.
Note: The ball will be kept in the funnel when you
are blowing air through the stem. When you stop
blowing, the ball will drop.
Repeat the procedure again having students closely observe the demonstration.
Ask:





How did I hold up the ball?
What happened when I stopped blowing into the tunnel?
What happens to the air in the funnel when I blow? (The air moves fast.)
What is this fast moving air creating? (low pressure)
What is the difference between the air on the inside of the funnel and the air on the
outside of the funnel when I am blowing? (low pressure inside from moving air, high
pressure outside from stationary air)
Note: When blowing through the tunnel, low pressure is created, especially at the point
where the stem meets the cone of the funnel. Here the fastest flow of air occurs because the
air molecules suddenly have more space to move about. The faster the flow of air, the lower
the pressure. The stationary air around the funnel has greater pressure or force. Therefore, a
partial vacuum is created. This is why the ball is sucked into the cone of the funnel.
Allow students to use the funnel and ping pong balls to investigate this concept for
themselves. Encourage them to describe and explain the process in their own words.
Note: For hygienic safety, ensure that the funnel is washed with soap and water after use by
each student.
Student participants will also need the skills for using a protractor in order to determine and
measure a right angle as well as how to use linear measure in order to determine height.
The following internet URL provides basic background and application for using a protractor.
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/protractor.html
The following page includes a practice worksheet for measuring angles. The visiting teacher may
wish to introduce students to the different types of angles and provide some guided practice in
advance of assigning the practice worksheet.
3 Types of angles
Right angle – An angle of 90 degrees
Acute angle – An angle whose measure is less than 90 degrees
Obtuse angle- An angle whose measure is greater than 90 degrees
Straight angle-A 180 degree angle