Wing Shapes and Areas

Lift—it is about the wing's attack. Using a virtual wind tunnel, pupils investigate wing shape and angle of attack. Learners use worksheets to record their observations and to convert verbal relationships into mathematical equations in...

Students 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.

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

Students use FoilSim to complete the activity to create tables of data sets comparing the lift values for a 3-D model of a symmetrical wing section to the values predicted by the FoilSim software.

Students use, with increasing confidence, problem-solving approaches to investigate and explain mathematical content. They make and test conjectures. They use tables and graphs as tools to interpret expressions, equations, and inequalities.

High schoolers use data from real-life models to calculate and compare the force required for an airplane of a given weight to become airborne. They use a graphing calculator to evaluate data and use the World Wide Web to access data.

Students use the FoilSim educational software program to complete an activity regarding lift. They solve a multivariable equation for each of the variables and apply the results to various problems in different situations.

Students use FoilSim interactive software to become familiar with the way in which the flow of air across or around an airfoil affects its ability to create lift.

Pupils, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate an understanding of the text by using it, along with FoilSim, to complete an activity to graph and interpret the lift equation.

Students, after reading the explanation given below, use FoilSim and a graphing calculator to complete the activity to determine the relationship between airspeed and lift of an object by interpreting data.