Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Vertical Motion of Firework Lab
This lab was designed to give students an environment that they could relate to that would let them test how launch speed and time of flight affect the height of an explosion and the speed at the time of the explosion.
NASA
Nasa: Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics
Includes exhaustive information and a wealth of activities pertaining to aerodynamics and the physics of flight.
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Flying Wing
In this lesson plan students can make a flying wing and trouble-shoot until the wing glides smoothly.
University of Wisconsin
The Why Files: On the Wing: Birds, Skeeters, Jet Planes
Evolution through natural selection governs the "design" of flying creatures. Engineers design flying machines. But flying is about physics, and physics is the ultimate arbiter of both processes, and that produces parallels in mechanical...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Turbulence: One of the Great Unsolved Mysteries of Physics
Tomas Chor dives into one of the prevailing mysteries of physics: the complex phenomenon of turbulence.
University of Minnesota
The Physics of Flight: Bernoulli's Principle
Discusses air flow around the wing of a plane and its effect upon the lift and drag forces. Focuses on the application of Bernoulli's principle to wing design and the subsequent airfoil shapes.
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Projectile Motion With Angry Birds
Analyze the path of a bird's flight as it attempts to obliterate pigs in the well-known game, Angry Birds. Comes with lab activities, a video, and a simulation. The latter requires software called Tracker, which is free to download.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flying With Style
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.
Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature: How Do Birds Fly?
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...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Balancing Ball: Suspend a Ball in a Stream of Air
In this lesson plan students learn about air flow using a suspended ball in an air stream.
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Spring Constant From Projectile Flight
Students must find the spring constant of a spring based on the distance a projectile travels when fired by the spring.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Hoopster
Students create their own airplane using straws and other materials and learn the principles of aerodynamics.
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Maple Seed Helicopters
Students study the aerodynamic properties of a maple seed and then apply what they observe making their own flying object.
Other
Personal: The Laws of Motion
This personal site explains the physics of angular momentum and their application to flight. Part of a much larger site on the procedures, principles, and perceptions of flight.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Flight to Mars: How Long? Along What Path?
Demonstrate how, with the use of orbital mechanics, a space mission to Mars can be planned. Using no more than algebra, Kepler's laws and the formula for the energy of an object in a Kepler orbit, the exercise derives the time for an...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: You Are There, First Flight
Students learn about archives and primary sources as they research original historical documents. While preparing an imaginative first-person account as if witnessing an historical event, they learn to appreciate the value of the...
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Vectors and Projectiles: The Plane and the Package
Consider a plane moving with a constant speed at an elevated height above the Earth's surface. In the course of its flight, the plane drops a package from its luggage compartment. This animation depicts such a situation. The path of the...
Other
Warbirds Resource Group: Luftwaffe Resource Center
This comprehensive site catalogs the planes of the Luftwaffe from 1935 on, and provides detailed specifications on armaments, missiles, bombs and other accessories to air warfare. It does not present a history of their use, but rather a...
PBS
Newton's Apple: Frisbee Physics
This teacher's guide from Public Television's Newton's Apple discusses and illustrates the physics principles governing the flight of a frisbee. Includes teacher lesson plans, activity ideas, discussion questions, and information about...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Third Law of Motion
This Illinois Institute of Technology site is a lesson plan and lab that utilizes a toy rocket to investigate Newton's third law. Includes directions and practical applications.
Other
See How It Flies: Airfoils and Airflow
One chapter from a larger site dedicated to explaining the physics of flight. Numerous diagrams show the flow of air around an airfoil.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Activity: Aviation
This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a student lab activity in which the flight of a paper airplane is investigated and studied. Designed for primary grades, but easily adaptable for junior high learners.
Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature: Northern Flying Squirrel
The northern flying squirrel can be found widely in Canadian forests. Its diet, physical features and mating habits are described here.
PBS
Pbs the Life of Birds: Bills, Beaks and Food
This lesson plan explores how natural selection has influenced the development of features that contribute to successful feeding (bills, wings, talons, etc.), as well as identifying those characteristics that enable birds to obtain the...