You are on page 1of 7

What is Air?

Air is a physical substance which has weight. It has molecules which are
constantly moving. Air pressure is created by the molecules moving around.
Moving air has a force that will lift kites and balloons up and down. Air is a
mixture of different gases; oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. All things that
fly need air. Air has power to push and pull on the birds, balloons, kites and
planes.
In 1640, Evagelista Torricelli discovered that air has weight. When
experimenting with measuring mercury, he discovered that air put pressure on
the mercury.
Francesco Lana used this discovery to begin to plan for an airship in the late
1600s. He drew an airship on paper that used the idea that air has weight. The
ship was a hollow sphere which would have the air taken out of it. Once the air
was removed, the sphere would have less weight and would be able to float up
into the air. Each of four spheres would be attached to a boat-like structure and
then the whole machine would float. The actual design was never tried.
Hot air expands and spreads out and it becomes lighter than cool air. When a
balloon is full of hot air it rises up because the hot air expands inside the
balloon. When the hot air cools and is let out of the balloon the balloon comes
back down.

How Wings Lift the Plane


Airplane wings are curved on the top which make air move faster over the top of
the wing. The air moves faster over the top of a wing. It moves slower
underneath the wing. The slow air pushes up from below while the faster air
pushes down from the top. This forces the wing to lift up into the air.

Laws of Motion

Sir Isaac Newton proposed three laws of motion in 1665. These Laws of
Motion help to explain how a planes flies.
1. If an object is not moving, it will not start moving by itself. If an object is
moving, it will not stop or change direction unless something pushes it.
2. Objects will move farther and faster when they are pushed harder.
3. When an object is pushed in one direction, there is always a resistance of the
same size in the opposite direction.

Forces of Flight
Four forces of
flight
Lift - upward
Drag - down and
backward
Weight - downward
Thrust - forward

Controlling the Flight of a Plane


How does a plane fly? Let's pretend that our arms are wings. If we place one
wing down and one wing up we can use the roll to change the direction of the
plane. We are helping to turn the plane by yawing toward one side. If we raise
our nose, like a pilot can raise the nose of the plane, we are raising the pitch of
the plane. All these dimensions together combine to control the flight of the
plane. A pilot of a plane has special controls that can be used to fly the plane.
There are levers and buttons that the pilot can push to change the yaw, pitch
and roll of the plane.
To roll the plane to the right or left, the ailerons are raised on one wing and
lowered on the other. The wing with the lowered aileron rises while the wing
with the raised aileron drops.
Pitch is to make a plane descend or climb. The pilot adjusts the elevators on
the tail to make a plane descend or climb. Lowering the elevators caused the

airplane's nose to drop, sending the plane into a down. Raising the elevators
causes the airplane to climb.
Yaw is the turning of a plane. When the rudder is turned to one side, the
airplane moves left or right. The airplane's nose is pointed in the same direction
as the direction of the rudder. The rudder and the ailerons are used together to
make a turn

How does a Pilot Control the Plane?

Click on the Radar Display, the Direction Finder, the Altitude Indicator and
the Throttle Console parts of the cockpit for a more detailed view.

To control a plane a pilot uses several instruments...


The pilot controls the engine power using the throttle. Pushing the throttle
increases power, and pulling it decreases power.

The ailerons raise and lower the wings. The pilot controls the roll of the plane
by raising one aileron or the other with a control wheel. Turning the control
wheel clockwise raises the right aileron and lowers the left aileron, which rolls
the aircraft to the right.

l
Picture of plane in roll
The rudder works to control the yaw of the plane. The pilot moves rudder left
and right, with left and right pedals. Pressing the right rudder pedal moves the
rudder to the right. This yaws the aircraft to the right. Used together, the rudder
and the ailerons are used to turn the plane.

Picture of plane Yaw

The elevators which are on the tail section are used to control the pitch of the
plane. A pilot uses a control wheel to raise and lower the elevators, by moving it
forward to back ward. Lowering the elevators makes the plane nose go down
and allows the plane to go down. By raising the elevators the pilot can make the
plane go up.

Picture of Plane Pitch


The pilot of the plane pushes the top of the rudder pedals to use the brakes.
The brakes are used when the plane is on the ground to slow down the plane
and get ready for stopping it. The top of the left rudder controls the left brake
and the top of the right pedal controls the right brake.
If you look at these motions together you can see that each type of motion helps
control the direction and level of the plane when it is flying.

Sound Barrier

Sound is made up of molecules of air that move. They push together and gather
together to form sound waves . Sound waves travel at the speed of about 750
mph at sea level. When a plane travels the speed of sound the air waves
gather together and compress the air in front of the plane to keep it from moving
forward. This compression causes a shock wave to form in front of the plane.
In order to travel faster than the speed of sound the plane needs to be able to
break through the shock wave. When the airplane moves through the waves, it
is makes the sound waves spread out and this creates a loud noise or sonic
boom . The sonic boom is caused by a sudden change in the air pressure.
When the plane travels faster than sound it is traveling at supersonic speed. A
plane traveling at the speed of sound is traveling at Mach 1 or about 760 MPH.
Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound.

Regimes of Flight
Sometimes called speeds of flight, each regime is a different level of flight
speed.

General Aviation(100-350 MPH).

Seaplane

Most of the early planes were only


able to fly at this speed level. Early
engines were not as powerful as
they are today. However, this
regime is still used today by
smaller planes. Examples of this
regime are the small crop dusters
used by farmers for their fields,
two and four seater passenger
planes, and seaplanes that can
land on water.

Subsonic (350-750 MPH).

Boeing 747

This category contains most of the


commercial jets that are used
today to move passengers and
cargo. The speed is just below the
speed of sound. Engines today are
lighter and more powerful and can
travel quickly with large loads of
people or goods.

Supersonic (760-3500 MPH Mach 1 - Mach 5).

Concorde

760 MPH is the speed of sound. It


is also called MACH 1. These
planes can fly up to 5 times the
speed of sound. Planes in this
regime have specially designed
high performance engines. They
are also designed with lightweight
materials to provide less drag. The
Concorde is an example of this
regime of flight.

Hypersonic (3500-7000 MPH Mach 5 to Mach 10).

Space Shuttle

Rockets travel at speeds 5 to 10


times the speed of sound as they
go into orbit. An example of a
hypersonic vehicle is the X-15,
which is rocket powered. The
space shuttle is also an example
of this regime. New materials and
very powerful engines were
developed to handle this rate of
speed.

You might also like