The 5th
Annual
NC
Undergraduate
Summer Research Symposium
Abstracts are listed in
alphabetical order by the last name of the corresponding author.
|
Vereen, Alysa M. |
|
|
Home Institution: |
Zebulon G.T. |
|
Program: |
|
|
Department(s): |
Physical and Mathematical
Sciences |
|
Research |
Wandra P. Hill/Physical and Mathematical Sciences |
|
Title of Presentation: |
How Do Planes Fly? |
Planes are heavier than air but somehow they stay up
in the air. I wanted to know what keeps
an airplane in the sky. My hypothesis was
that the plane was able to fly due to the shape of the airplane wing. The special shape of the airplane wing is
called “airfoil”. The front edge of the
wing is thicker than the back edge and the top of the wing is curved while the
bottom is flat. I made a model of a wing
by using a piece of paper (¼ of a piece of typing paper). I folded the paper in half and slid one side
½ inch away from the other edge and stapled it in place. I then slid a pencil through the model wing
and held it while I blew against the thick edge. The wing lifted as I blew. Air traveling across the top and bottom of
the wing reach the other side at the same time.
Because the top of the wing is larger, air must travel faster over this
area to reach the end of the wing at the same time as the air on the bottom of
the wing. Air pressure is less in air
that is moving fast and is greater in air that is moving slower. This means that the air pressure under the
wing was greater than the air pressure on top of the wing; which helped to keep
the wing up. This effect is called the
Bernoulli’s principle. Now, I can
understand why the airplane wing shape has to change in order for a plane to
land; the air pressure has to be greater on top of the wing in order for the
plane to come down.
[ 2006
Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium Main Page ]
Last modified June 2006 by Sharon E. Hunt, WordHunting