Wing Shapes and Areas

The title says it all: Could King Kong exist? Investigate how increasing the dimensions of an object affects its surface area and volume to mathematically conclude whether a creature with the weight and height of King Kong could actually...

Using a cut-out template of a whirligig, emerging engineers experiment with flight behavior. After you teach them the concepts of force, air resistance, and lift, they discuss what variables on the whirligigs might be changed in order to...

Students determine the relationship between perimeter, circumference, area, surface area, and/or volume of similar figures and their parts. They complete activities related to the question. Answer key included.

Students compare scale drawings to actual dimensions of airplane wing tabs.  For this comparison of scale drawings to actual dimensions of airplane wing tabs lesson, students use scale factor and proportions to compare the drawings to...

In this similarity instructional activity, students identify similar shapes.  They determine the scale factor of the similar shapes and find their volume and area.  Students enlarge shapes according to the given scale factor.  They...

Explore distance and time factors to build an understanding of rates. A comprehensive set of problems target learners of all grade levels. The initial problem provides distance and time values and asks for the winner of a race. Another...

Try your hand at scale models. Scholars create a scale model of an object using a scale factor of their choice. As part of the project, they give presentations on their processes and calculations. This is the last installment of the...

In these math lesson plans, students discuss how math problems are written to reflect real-world situations. They complete an online Math Hunt using specific web tools, and work individually to create their own Math Hunts. Additionally,...

Students use FoilSim to complete the activity and investigate the factors that affect lift and how wing area and lift are related.

Young scholars read an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook on lift and an explanation on the FoilSim software package given below. They use FoilSim to evaluate the relationship between wing area and lift.