Wing Area

Keep your hands on the wheel—at all times! Scholars learn why pilots use a flight computer through a high-flying demonstration. Making calculations for speed, distance, or time is automatic if you know how to use a flight computer. 

Do bigger sails mean that the sailboat goes faster? Middle and high schoolers compare sailboats, and learn that simply calculating sail area is not enough. A slideshow presentation demonstrates how to calculate the Sail Area to...

High school physicists demonstrate Bernoulli's Principle by blowing on different items and finding that they do not move in the expected direction! They apply Bernoulli's equation to the flight of an airplane. This well-organized lesson...

Demonstrate the ratio of surface area to volume in your high school class by using phenolphthalein, gelatin, and an onion. Intrigue the class by leading a discussion on osmosis and diffusion, then making "scientific jello." Participants...

This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build an...

More than 100,000 commercial flights take off every day, but how do the planes fly? Veritasium presents a video explaining the way wings work. It opens with the common misconception, then introduces two seemingly conflicting...

Junior engineers examine aspect ration in airplane wings. Using the length and width of two differetn wings, they calculate the aspect ratios and compare drag rankings. An engineering or space science class would benefit from this...

Learners engage in the study of flight with the help of a computer flight simulation. They take part in a variety of activities that imitate the Space Shuttle Endeavor. Students work as teams like the astronauts would to complete mission...

Want to plate your baby shoe in copper? The video lesson explains the process of electroplating as a chemical procedure. Learners understand that electrolysis is the means to accomplish this goal.

It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.