Three interactives in an online exhibition about the Wright Brothers. The first is an engineering activity on the forces of flight, and is accompanied by a lesson plan for Grades 6-8. The second is a gallery of original artifacts related...

Through this series of three lessons, students will gain an understanding of the basics of flight. They will learn about the four forces of flight and practice their observation skills through a number of fun experiments. In addition,...

Smithsonian Education presents "Airplanes and Airports: How to Take Off Without Ever Leaving the Ground." Teachers can download this teaching package that discusses airplanes and airports. Included in the discussion are the forces of...

In this interactive activity from NOVA, discover how centripetal force can affect you when riding in a car or flying at high speeds in a fighter jet.

The airplanes unit begins with a lesson on how airplanes create lift, which involves a discussion of air pressure and how wings use Bernoulli's Principle to change air pressure. Following the lessons on lift, students explore the other...

Students revisit Bernoulli's Principle (Lesson 1 of the Airplanes unit) and learn how engineers use this principle to design airplane wings. Airplane wings create lift by changing the pressure of the air around it. This is the first of...

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the relationship between the mass and the weight of an object. Students will study the properties of common materials and why airplanes use specific materials.

Biography with photos and audio on Chuck Yeager, an Air Force pilot credited with being the first man to break the sound barrier. Site includes photos, audio and text.

This lesson is an exciting conclusion to the airplanes unit that encourages students to think creatively. After a review of the concepts learned, students will design their own flying machine based on their knowledge of the forces...

Students will make paper rockets, parachutes, and foam gliders to experience how objects move through the air. Explore topics such as thrust, weight, gravity, force, and lift through fun activities and stories and cutting-edge work done...

NASA presents a concise explanation of Newton's three laws of motion. Click on the highlighted vocabulary to find more detailed and illustrated descriptions. Included is a link to a movie that shows how the laws of motion described the...

In this lesson, students will learn about kites and gliders and how these models can help in understanding the concept of flight. Students will design and build their own balsa wood models and experiment with different control surfaces....

This site provides a simplified explanation of the physics of flight. Site provides information about lift, drag, weight, thrust, Bernoulli's Principle, and much more.

Are you studying or teaching Aerodynamics? This page acts as an index to all the terminology related to this topic. Clicking on any title will open a page with a colored slide and a scientific explanation of the contents. Animated,...

The purpose of this activity is to bring together the students' knowledge of engineering and airplanes and the creation of a glider model to determine how each modification affects the flight. The students will use a design procedure...

Collection of articles ranging from basic to advanced on aerodynamics theory.

Easy to read guide from NASA on the basics of flight. Great graphics and some simulations are included.

This lesson focuses on helicopters and drones, how they fly, how they are used in different ways that help people and the environment. Teams of students explore helicopter flight; and design, build, and test their own simple rotor out of...

The purpose of this activity is for the students to draw a design for their own flying machine. They will apply their knowledge of aircraft design and the forces acting on them. The students will start with a brainstorming activity where...

This lesson plan explores the drag force on airplanes. The students will be introduced to the concept of conservation of energy and how it relates to drag. Students will explore the relationship between drag and the shape, speed and size...

As students begin to understand the physics behind thrust, drag, and gravity and how these relate these to Newton's three laws of motion, groups assemble and launch the rockets that they designed in the associated lesson.

Young scholars are introduced to the physics concepts of air resistance and launch angle as they apply to catapults. This includes the basic concepts of position, velocity and acceleration and their relationships to one another. They use...

Have you ever wondered about how birds are able to fly? View three 3D animations to see a bird take off, flap in flight and glide. This is an excellent resource to develop an understanding of the physical forces that make this one of the...

This diagram shows the forces of lift that affect the wing of an aircraft. Lift, thrust, weight and drag all affect the flight of the aircraft as well as the angle of attack.