Airplane Lessons

MECHANICAL/MECHANISIM
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Airplane Lessons
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Airplane Lessons (Main)
Can You Take the Pressure?
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_airplanes_lesson01
May the Force Be with You: Lift

May the Force Be with You: Weight

May the Force Be with You: Thrust

May the Force Be with You: Drag

Airplane Tails & Wings: Are You in Control?

and do the worksheet
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Hot air balloons utilize pressure concepts in order to stay in flight
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Summary
Students study the properties of common materials and why airplanes use specific materials.
This lesson helps students understand the relationship between the mass and the weight of an
object.
Engineering Connection
One of the most important aspects of aircraft design that engineers must take into
consideration is weight. Every additional part or piece added to an airplane adds weight that
makes it harder for the airplane to overcome the force of gravity to fly. So, when engineers
design airplanes, they minimize the weight in their choices of parts and materials, while still
assuring strength and safety.
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Introduction/Motivation
What is air? (Listen to student answers.) Air is a collection of molecules—very small particles
that we cannot see—that cover the surface of the Earth. Air is comprised of 78% nitrogen, 21%
oxygen, and the remaining 1% is mostly argon and carbon dioxide.
Blow onto your hand. What is happening? (Listen to student answers.) You are forcing air out of
your lungs, and it is hitting your hands.
Why doesn't air around the planet escape to space? (Listen to student answers.) Gravity pulls on
air just like it pulls on a person and all objects. The weight of air is called air pressure and it
pushes on us all the time. The existence of air pressure is what enables airplanes to fly.
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Lesson Background and Concepts

History
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), like other inventors of his time, had a fascination with the flapping flight of birds. He believed that
"a bird is an instrument working according to a mathematical law. It lies within the power of humans to make this instrument with
all of its motions." He designed several ornithopters, which are airplanes with flapping wings. He also designed a glider that
resembles modern day hang-gliders.
In 1738, an Italian physicist named Daniel Bernoulli discovered that water and air move faster over curved surfaces than they do
over flat ones. He also discovered that as the air or water moved faster, as the pressure exerted by the fluid decreased. This critical
discovery, known as Bernoulli's principle, paved the way for modern airplanes.
In 1903, a pair of bike shop owners from Ohio made the world's first powered flight at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. Orville and
Wilbur Wright had studied prior attempts to fly and realized that birds keep their balance by twisting their wings. In 1895, Wilbur
designed a kite that reproduced this effect mechanically. Then, for several years after his kite invention, the two brothers
experimented with flight using gliders. Wilbur also discovered the principle of combining rudder control with roll for smoother
turns.
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What Is Air Pressure?
Our atmosphere could be described as a sea of air that is about 80 kilometers thick surrounding the
planet. All of that air piled on top of us is pulled down by gravity (see Figure 1). In fact, the air
pushes against us in all directions. This is air pressure. Refer to the Air Pressure activity to have
students learn more about the concept.
(https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_airplanes_lesson01_activity1)
How Does Air Pressure Work?
Air is pushing on all people and objects with a force of 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level.
(the standard constant value used for atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1 atm (standard
atmosphere) which equals 101,325 pascals in SI units, and is equivalent to 29.9213 inches of
mercury). As you go higher in elevation, less air is pushing down, so the air pressure is less. The Figure 1. Air
pressure acting on a
change is not that great until you get very high. Heating the air, cooling it, or causing it to move person.
can change the air's pressure. These differences in air pressure create wind and make flight
possible.
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What Is Bernoulli's Principle?
Bernoulli discovered that the faster water moves over a surface, the lower the pressure the water
exerts on that surface. In Figure 2, water flowing out of a bottle moves faster through the narrow
neck than it does in the rest of the bottle. Students can practice this principle with the fun
associated activity, Fun with Bernoulli. Bernoulli proved that the water pressure on the sides of the
neck of the bottle were less than those on the sides of the rest of the bottle.
Bernoulli then found that these same principles apply to air as well. Bernoulli's principle simply Figure 2. Fluid
moving out of a
states that the faster a fluid moves over a surface, the less it pushes on the surface (see Figure 3). bottle.
Figure 3. The
influence of air
movement on air
pressure
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Engineers and the Bernoulli Principle
Engineers must fully understand the concept represented by Bernoulli's principle when designing
and testing airplane wings. They use this information to determine the amount of lift a wing will
produce (how high an airplane can go). Engineers also use their knowledge of these principles for
other projects relating to fluid flow. We will learn more about how Bernoulli's principle is related
to flight in Lesson 2 of the Airplanes unit.
Lesson Closure
Ask students to explain air pressure. Then have them explain why one of the Bernoulli's principle
activities they did worked in terms of air pressure. Make sure they understand Bernoulli's principle
(as fluid velocity increases the pressure decreases).
Bonus question: What is a vacuum? (Answer: A vacuum is a volume with no air in it and therefore
no air pressure.)
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Vocabulary/Definitions
air pressure: The force exerted by air on an area. Units: metric is newtons per square meter;
English is pounds per square inch.
Bernoulli's principle: A natural physical law that pressure exerted by a fluid decreases as the rate
of flow increases.
fluid: Any substance in which the molecules can move around freely. A fluid is any gas or liquid,
such as air and water.
force: A push or pull on an object.
lift: The force resulting from the difference in air pressure above and below the wings that causes
aircraft to move upwards.
vacuum is a volume with no air in it and therefore no air pressure.)
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Pre-Lesson Assessment
Discussion Questions: Solicit, integrate, and summarize student responses.

•What is air? (Answer: Air is a collection of molecules—very small particles that
we cannot see—that cover the surface of the Earth. Air is comprised of 78%
nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and the remaining 1% is mostly argon and carbon dioxide.)
•Why doesn't air escape into space? (Answer: Gravity)
•Why don't you feel the air pressure? (Answer: Your body pushes out against the
air to balance the air pressure.)
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Post-Introduction Assessment
Voting: Ask a true/false question and have students vote by holding thumbs up for true and
thumbs down for false. Tally the votes and write the totals on the board. Give the right answer.
•True or False: Air pressure is caused by the rotation of the Earth. (Answer: False. Air pressure
is caused by gravity pulling air towards the Earth.)
•True or False: The faster air moves, the higher the pressure. (Answer: False. Pressure decreases
as air velocity increases.)
•True of False: Air pressure pushes in all directions. (Answer: True. Air pressure not only pushes
down on us, but it also pushes from the sides and even from below.)
vacuum is a volume with no air in it and therefore no air pressure.)
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Airplane wings create lift to help keep it in flight

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Summary
Students revisit Bernoulli's principle (presented in lesson 1 of the Airplanes unit) and learn how
engineers use this principle to design airplane wings. Airplane wings create lift by changing the
pressure of the air around them. This is the first of four lessons exploring the four key forces in
flight: lift, weight, thrust and drag.
With their understanding of Bernoulli's principle, engineers manipulate air pressure to create
lift. They design wings so that the air moves faster over the top of the wings than under the
wings. Since we know from Bernoulli's principle that faster moving air has less pressure, the air
pushes more on the bottom of the wing than on the top of the wing. This difference in pressure
causes the wing to rise; engineers call this lift. Before testing their wing designs on real
airplanes, engineers experiment with variations in wing shapes in wind tunnels to see how they
perform in moving air.
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May the Force Be with You:
Lift
Start by revisiting with students the Lesson 1 concepts. Make sure they understand that air is around them all the
time and that the air has pressure. Ask if they remember how much air pressure is pushing on them. (Answer:
14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level, 12 psi in Denver.)
Next, ask what Bernoulli's principle tells us about air pressure. (Answer: The faster air moves, the lower its
pressure.)
Have students brainstorm what Bernoulli's principle might have to do with flight. Get them to realize if is high
pressure exists below the airplane and low pressure exists above the airplane, it will move up, which is where
the lift force comes from. Then get them to use Bernoulli's principle to determine that somehow the air must be
moving faster over the top of the airplane to cause lift.
Draw a simple airplane diagram on the board. Label the four forces of flight (see Lesson Background & Concepts
for Teachers and Figure 1). In this lesson we will learn about lift force.
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Lift
The Four Forces of Flight
The four forces of flight are lift, weight, thrust and drag. Lift and

weight are opposing forces, which means they act in opposite
directions. Likewise, thrust and drag are opposing forces.
All airplanes are subject to these four forces (see Figure 1).
Thrust is what moves the aircraft forward and also creates air
speed, which we will see later is part of what creates lift. Lift is
what pushes the airplane up, while gravity is the force that pulls the
airplane down. Drag is a force that acts against thrust and slows the
airplane down. When the thrust is greater than the drag, the plane
moves forward. When weight is greater than lift, the plane
descends. Figure 1. The four forces of flight: lift,
weight, thrust and drag.
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Lift
How Does Bernoulli's Principle Create Lift?
The wings are the parts of an airplane that create lift. If we

look at a wing from the side, as in Figure 2, we can see that
it is shaped somewhat like a teardrop, with a thick, rounded
front end and a thin, pointed back end. The curve on the top
of the wing is longer than the bottom, which means air
traveling across the top of the wing has to move faster to
keep up with the air moving under the wing. According to
Bernoulli's principle, there must be less pressure on the top
of the wing than on the bottom of the wing. Refer to the
associated activity Windy Tunnel to help students illustrate
how the Bernoulli principle relates to winged flight.
Figure 2. Bernoulli's principle demonstrated
on an airplane wing.
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Lift
The result of this difference in air pressure is a net

upward force called lift.
As illustrated in Figure 3, the air moving under the

wing moves slower and exerts more pressure/force on
the wing than does the air moving over the wing.
Since there is more force under the wing than above

it, the net result is that the wing rises up; hence, lift.
This principle forms the basis of winged flight.
Figure 3. How a wing produces lift.

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Lift
Flaps are present on the front and back edges of wings.
During takeoff and landing, pilots extend the flaps on

the back edge of the wing.
The flaps increase the camber (curve) of the wing, which

maintains the lift at slower speeds. After takeoff, the pilot
retracts the flaps for normal flight. Engineers use wind
tunnels and computers to continuously test wing designs
to determine their lift.
Airplane lessons
Lift
angle of attack: The angle between the wing and direction of flight is called the angle of attack.
camber: The camber is the curve in the wing. The higher the camber (curve), the higher the lift
created by the wing. Flaps fold down during takeoff and landing to increase the camber so that the
airplane can still fly even though it is moving very slow.
lift: When the air pressure below a wing is greater than the air pressure above the wing, there is a
net upward force called the lift.
fore no air pressure.)
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Lift
Question/Answer Review: Ask students if they remember Bernoulli's principle from Lesson 1 of the Airplanes unit.
Ask for explanations/descriptions to the following:
•Can you remember how much air pressure is pushing on you at all times? (Answer: 14.7 pounds per square inch at
sea level; 12 pounds per square inch in Denver.)
•What does Bernoulli's principle tell us about air pressure? (Answer: The faster air moves the lower its pressure.)
•Have students brainstorm what Bernoulli's principle might have to do with flight. Get them to realize if high
pressure exists below the airplane and low pressure exists above the airplane, it will move up, which is where the
lift force comes from. Then get them to use Bernoulli's principle to determine that somehow the air must be moving
faster over the top of the airplane to cause lift.
Airplane lessons
Lift
Voting: Ask a true/false question and have students vote by holding thumbs up for true and thumbs down for false.
Tally the number of true and false and write the number on the board. Give the right answer.
•All airplanes are subject to three forces during flight. (Answer: False, four forces of flight exist: lift, weight, thrust
and drag.)
•Bernoulli's principle, causes thrust to happen? (Answer: False, lift is the correct force.)
•When weight is greater than lift, an airplane descends? (Answer: True)
Lesson Summary Assessment

Numbered Heads: Have students on each team pick numbers (or number off) so each member has a different
number. Ask the students a question (give them a time frame for solving it, if desired). Have the members of each
team work together on the answer. Everyone on the team must know the answer. Call a number at random. Students
with that number raise their hands to answer the question. If not all students with that number raise their hands,
Airplane lessons
Lift
Numbered Heads: Have students on each team pick numbers (or number off) so each member has a different
number. Ask the students a question (give them a time frame for solving it, if desired). Have the members of each
team work together on the answer. Everyone on the team must know the answer. Call a number at random. Students
with that number raise their hands to answer the question. If not all students with that number raise their hands,
allow the teams to work a little longer. Ask the students:
•What are the four forces of flight? (Answer: Lift, weight, thrust and drag.)
•How does Bernoulli's principle create lift? (Answer: Because the top of a wing is longer than the bottom, and air
traveling across the top of the wing moves faster and exerts less pressure than air beneath the wing. The result is a
net force up; hence, lift.)
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Forces acting on an aircraft

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Summary
Students study the properties of common materials and why airplanes use specific materials.
This lesson helps students understand the relationship between the mass and the weight of an
object.
One of the most important aspects of aircraft design that engineers must take into consideration
is weight. Every additional part or piece added to an airplane adds weight that makes it harder
for the airplane to overcome the force of gravity to fly. So, when engineers design airplanes,
they minimize the weight in their choices of parts and materials, while still assuring strength
and safety.
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Introduction/Motivation Part 1
Have you ever wondered why some things that serve the same purpose are made of different
materials? Some of you may have helped in the kitchen and noticed that mixing bowls are made
of metal, plastic, wood and glass. Why do we need so many different types of bowls?
The key is the different physical properties of each material.
Engineers consider many criteria when choosing materials. What are a few considerations
engineers must take into account when choosing materials for designs.
(Possible answers: weight, strength, resistance to heat, conductivity, cost, manufacturability

[how easily the material can be cut, molded, shaped, connected, etc.], and aesthetics.)
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Imagine: What if someone tried to make a bridge for cars out of paper. What might happen?
(Answer: The bridge would collapse because paper breaks at a much lower stress than other
materials, such as steel and concrete.)
Engineers could make a bridge out of titanium, which is strong and extremely light, but the cost
would be high and bridge weight is generally not very important. In the long run, engineers
would use a material that is just as strong as titanium, such as steel, but is less expensive — a
tremendous savings to the project.
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Weight
The optimum choice of materials is also very important in airplane design.
What material properties might be important to engineers when they design airplanes?
(Possible answers: Weight is an important property since airplanes need to be as light as

possible to get off the ground; other important properties to consider are strength,
manufacturability, resistance to heat [important in the engine] and cost.)
Airplanes have been made of some very interesting materials in the past. Otto Lilienthal, a
German inventor, used cotton to cover the wings of his first gliders.
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Two Englishmen, William Henson and John Stringfellow, used silk to make propellers for
models of their steam-powered airplanes.
Through trial and error, it was soon discovered that these two materials were not ideal for
building airplanes.
Advances in materials science result of engineers devoting their lives to the study of materials.
Some engineers study the structure of matter on the atomic level and determine how different
atoms will interact. Then they determine how they will put the atoms together in a specific way.
Finally, they fabricate and test their new materials. Keep your eyes open! You never know when
you might see one of these new materials in an everyday product.
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What Is Weight?
Weight is the force exerted on all objects by gravity. However, in order to talk about weight, we
must first understand mass.
Mass is a measure of how much "stuff" is in an object. The mass of an object is independent of
where the object is.
For example, a person with a mass of 100 kilograms on Earth will still have a mass of 100
kilograms on the moon.
The force of gravity on an object, on the other hand, determines weight. Since gravity on Earth
is about six times that of the moon, a person on Earth weighs six times more than s/he would on
the moon.
May the Force Be with You: WeightAirplane lessons

How Does Weight Affect Flight?
Weight is the force that pulls an airplane back towards the

Earth. Weight must be overcome by lift (as seen in Lesson 2
of the Airplanes unit) in order to achieve flight.
The force of lift must be greater than the weight of an

airplane for the airplane to climb (see Figure 1).
Refer to the associated activity Physics Tug of War to have

students look at the effects of weight on motion as explained
by Newton's second law. (do the worksheet: Physics Tug of
War ! Activity – Worksheet )
Figure 1. The four forces of flight: lift,


How Does Weight Affect Flight?
Why Use Different Materials?
In order for engineers to design bigger airplanes, they must increase lift to hold the extra weight. They can do this by increasing
the airplane speed or by increasing the wing surface area.
Increasing the airplane speed is difficult because the plane will experience more drag and use more fuel. Increasing the wing
surface area is also difficult because this adds extra weight to the plane, which is the problem the engineers are trying to solve
in the first place!
A solution engineers often use is to replace parts of the plane with lighter materials. For example, today most airplanes' bodies
and wings are made of aluminum, which is lighter than steel and stronger than plastic or wood.
Sometimes engineers design new metal alloys when they cannot find a material that meets their needs. Alloys are mixtures of
metals that have properties of the individual metals in the mixture. If an alloy contains a metal that is a good conductor of
electricity and a metal that is strong, the alloy itself is generally strong and a good conductor. Engineers also design different
types of plastic and ceramic materials.
May the Force Be with You: Weight Airplane lessons

Why Use Different Materials?
Engineers choose the materials they use for certain projects based on many factors. Strength and weight are some of the most important factors in
designing airplanes.
Students can gather their own observations of these two properties compared over different materials in the associated activity Bend That Bar (can
we do this?)
Other important criteria are material cost and appearance. Engineers strive to make their airplane designs look good and fly well. One important
material property that engineers must pay special attention to is heat resistance.
A ceramic material is used on the space shuttle to shield the inside from the high temperatures created on the surface of the shuttle during reentry.
This material has very low heat conductivity and high heat resistance. Low heat conductivity means that heat does not pass easily from one side
of the material to the other, which is similar to how a thermos keeps hot coffee warm. The walls of the thermos have low heat conductivity,
which means the heat does not travel easily from the coffee to the outside of the thermos. This traps the heat inside and keeps the coffee warm for
longer periods of time than without using a thermos. Ceramics also tend to be very heat resistant, which means that they can withstand incredibly
intense temperatures.
If ceramic tiles were not used on the space shuttle, the heat would ultimately melt it!

alloy: A mixture or solid solution of two or more metals, the atoms of one replacing or occupying positions between the atoms
of the other. Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.
ceramic: A hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant material made by shaping and then firing a nonmetallic mineral,
such as clay, at a high temperature.
mass: The mass is the measure of how much material is in an object. The mass of an object is not dependent on gravity and,
therefore, is different from, but proportional to, its weight.
material science: The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of
materials and their properties.
matter: That of which anything is composed. Matter is anything that has mass and exists as a solid, liquid, gas, or plasma.
weight: The force with which a body is attracted to Earth or another celestial body, equal to the product of the object's mass and
the acceleration of gravity.

Discussion Question/Answer Review: Solicit, integrate and summarize student responses.
•What is lift? (Answer: When the air pressure below a wing is greater than the air pressure above the wing, the net upward force is called lift.)
•How does Bernoulli's principle create lift? (Answer: A wing is designed so the top is longer than the bottom; then when air travels across the top
of the wing it moves faster and exerts less pressure than air beneath the wing. The result is a net force up, or lift.)
•Some of you may have helped in the kitchen and noticed that we mix things in bowls that are made of metal, plastic, wood and glass. Why do we
need so many different types of bowls? (Answer: The key is the different physical properties of each material.)


Inside/Outside Circle: Have students stand in two circles such that each student has a partner. Three people may work together if necessary. The
outside circle faces in, and the inside circle faces out. Ask the students a question. Both members of each pair think about the question and discuss
their answers. If they cannot agree on an answer, they can consult with another pair. Call for responses from the inside or outside circle or the
class as a whole.
•What are the four forces affecting airplane flight? (Answer: Lift, weight, thrust and drag.)
•What is lift? (Answer: When the air pressure below a wing is greater than the air pressure above the wing, the net upward force is called lift.)
•Which of the four forces did we learn about today and in which direction does it affect flight? (Answer: Weight, and in a downward direction.)
•What is mass? (Answer: Mass is the measure of how much material is in an object. The mass of an object is not dependent on gravity and, so it is
different from, but proportional to, its weight.)
•What is weight? (Answer: The force with which a body is attracted to Earth or another celestial body, equal to the product of the object's mass
and the acceleration of gravity.)


class as a whole.
•How does weight affect airplane flight? (Answer: Weight is the force that pulls an airplane back towards the Earth. Weight must be overcome by
lift (as seen in Lesson 2 of the Airplanes unit) in order to achieve flight. The force of lift must be greater than the weight of an airplane for the
airplane to climb.)
•What affects the weight of an airplane? (Answer: The materials from which the plane is constructed.)
•What must engineers consider when choosing the materials to build an airplane? (Answer: Engineers choose the materials they use based on
many factors: strength and weight are the some of the most important factors in designing airplanes. Other important criteria are material cost,
appearance and durability.)
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Newton's cradle illustrating Newton's third law of motion

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Summary
Students study how propellers and jet turbines generate thrust. This lesson focuses on Isaac Newton's
third law of motion for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
When designing airplanes, engineers apply Newton's third law of motion to determine how to best power
the aircraft.
The physical law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Engineers design
systems that create an action that in turn causes the airplane to move forward; this action is called thrust.
To create thrust, they may use propellers, jets or rockets, and the heavier the airplane, the more thrust it
requires to move.
May the Force Be with You: Thrust Airplane lessons

Introduction/Motivation part 1
How does a car move forwards? It moves forwards by pushing backwards on the road. Knowing this, how does an
airplane move through the air when no roads exist on which to drive?
Why do you think an airplane is able to move forwards? (Answer: Expect students to probably say that the airplane
pushes off the air to move, but this is not true. The answer lies in Newton's third law of motion that states that for
every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, if you were to stand on a skateboard and throw a
bowling ball in one direction, you and the skateboard would move in the opposite direction of the bowling ball.
Throwing the bowling ball is the action while the movement of the skateboard is the opposite reaction. This is how
an airplane moves, but instead of throwing bowling balls, it "throws" lots of air molecules in the opposite direction
of its movement.)
Think about a rocket in space. Although a rocket creates thrust—much like a jet engine—nothing is present in space
(such as air) for the rocket to push against, yet it still moves when the rockets are fired, just as an airplane can move
forwards when its engines are on, and propellers are moving. How?

This idea demonstrates Newton's third law of motion. Car tires push back against the road, which causes the car to move in
the opposite direction—forwards. Although airplanes do not push against the air, their movement is still described by
Newton's third law of motion. A jet engine and a propeller work together by grabbing air and "throwing" it backwards very
quickly. This throwing of the air is the action. The reaction is that the airplane moves in the opposite direction—forwards. A
rocket works in the same way, but instead of using air, it uses gasses that it carries inside of it (which means that a rocket
works in the atmosphere as well as in space).
So, if you throw a bowling ball while standing on a skateboard, why don't you move as far as the bowling ball does?
Newton's third law states that the reaction must be equal and opposite. If you do not move as far or as fast as the bowling
ball, it does not seem like that is an equal reaction.
Part of the reason why you do not move as far as the bowling ball is that the wheels encounter friction, which slows the
skateboard.
However, the more relevant reason that you do not move as far as the bowling ball is because of your weight: you weigh a lot
more than a bowling ball. When Newton's third law says the reaction is equal and opposite to the action, it means that the
reaction force is equal and opposite to the action force.

Even though the forces acting on the bowling ball and the skateboard are the same, the bowling ball moves farther
because it is much lighter.
Imagine pushing on a huge boulder. The pushing is a force, and you would have to apply a very large force on the
boulder to get it to move. What if you put the same force into a pebble? It would go sailing through the air. The less
mass something has, the further/faster it will travel when a constant force is applied to it. This is why, you and the
skateboard do not move as far as the bowling ball.
Today we will learn about thrust. Thrust is the force that causes an airplane to move forwards because of the movement
of air or gas. Not only does thrust push the airplane forwards, but that movement also enables the wings to create lift.
(Lift is discussed in the Airplanes unit, Lesson 2.)

Engines are responsible for giving airplanes thrust. Several different types of airplane engines are: propeller, jet, and
rocket.
Why can't engineers simply build a huge engine so that an airplane can travel twice as fast? (Answer: Remind students
of the four forces that act on airplanes: weight, lift, thrust and drag, shown in Figure 1).
A huge engine would weigh too much and upset the delicate balance between the four forces. True, a larger engine
would create more thrust, but also (too much) more weight. More weight, however, would require more lift, which
would require bigger wings.)
Finding the power to push an airplane has been a difficult challenge since the first airplanes were built.
Engineers continually work on developing engines that are more reliable and give more thrust for their weight. Turbojet
and turbofan engines are the most commonly used aircraft engines today, but one can only imagine what the next great
innovation in propulsion will be—only time will tell! Maybe you will engineer the next engine to be used in aircraft
around the world.

What is Thrust?
Imagine you are floating in space holding a huge bowling ball.

If you were to throw the bowling ball in one direction, you
would move in the opposite direction.
The same is true with jets, rockets and propellers, except

instead of a bowling ball, they throw air or another gas. This
movement of gas (air) is called thrust: the force that causes
an airplane to move forwards. Not only does thrust push the
airplane forwards, but that movement also allows the wings to
create lift.
Remember from Airplanes Lesson 2, we learned that lift is

created when air moves faster over the top of the wing. Figure Figure 1. The four forces of flight: lift,
1 illustrates the four forces of flight.

How Is Thrust Created?
Airplane thrust is created by three principal mechanisms: propellers, jet engines and rocket engines. All three engine
types take advantage of the physical behaviors described by Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every
action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. All airplane engines push air backwards. Newton's third law predicts that
an airplane will move forward with an equal and opposite force. This reaction force is known as thrust. Refer to the
associated activity Equal & Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You’re a Pushover! to help illustrate the relationship
between thrust and airplane design as explained by Newton's third law.
Additional lesson information as Equal & Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You’re a Pushover!
Check: https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_airplanes_lesson04_activity1
Do worksheet: Equal & Opposite Thrust in Aircraft - You’re a Pushover.pdf


How Do Propellers Generate Thrust?
Propellers are comprised of multiple, individual

blades (of various sizes, depending on the overall
size of the propeller), which are each shaped like
small wings.
Lift is created on one side of the propeller blade as it

rotates through the air. This lift then pulls the
propeller forwards because it is oriented vertically
not horizontally like the wings (which enable
movement upwards, or lift).
The propeller then pulls on the engine and the rest of

the airplane.

How Do Jet Engines Generate Thrust?


How Do Jet Engines Generate Thrust?
Jet engines are much more complex. First, air is pulled into the engine through an
inlet and compressor. The compressor pushes the air into a combustion chamber at a
high pressure. Then, liquid fuel is continually sprayed into the combustion chamber
and burned. This creates exhaust gas, which is at an extremely high temperature and
pressure. The (exhaust) gas in the combustion chamber tries to expand as a result of
the increase in temperature, creating extreme pressure. This high-pressure gas exits
the engine through a turbine and nozzle. It is this high-pressure gas leaving the
engine at such a high speed that pushes the engine forwards. This is similar to
letting the air out of a balloon. The air molecules are pushed backwards and the
balloon is pushed forwards—again, an example of Newton's third law of motion.
The action is the air being pushed backwards from the engine; the reaction is the
engine being pushed forwards.

How Do Rockets Generate Thrust?
A rocket generates thrust in a manner similar to a jet engine. A rocket is composed

of either solid fuel in a casing or a combination of liquid fuel and oxidizer that is
pumped into the combustion chamber.
The fuel burns in the casing and is ejected through the nozzle at a high speed
because it has expanded, just as the gas in a jet engine does. A rocket engine is
different from a jet engine though in that it does not require outside air and
burns more fuel.
Even though rockets create a lot of thrust, they are rarely used on airplanes
because they usually cannot burn for long periods of time.

What Do Engineers Do?
Engineers are responsible for designing airplanes to fly. However, no simple cookbook recipe exists for airplane
construction; it requires tremendous creativity and ingenuity.
Did you know that we have no good method to calculate the shape of a propeller blade? Engineers develop the shape of
the propellers by experimentation and computer modeling. (such as FEA, Finite element analysis (FEA) is a
computerized method for predicting how a product reacts to real-world forces, vibration, heat, fluid flow, and
other physical effects. Finite element analysis shows whether a product will break, wear out, or work the way it was
designed.) USE this site to describe FEA: (https://interestingengineering.com/what-is-finite-element-analysis-and-how-
does-it-work)
They must adjust the fuel consumption of an airplane engine so that the engine generates enough thrust but also has
enough fuel to travel long distances.
Engineers also must calculate how hot the engines will eventually become to make sure that engine parts do not melt or
burn.

Lesson Closure
Review the four forces that affect flight and discuss with students how thrust provides the forward force on the airplane.
Ask students to explain in their own words the concept of action and reaction.
Also, ask students how the mass of an object affects the force needed to move it. (Answer: Expect students to also
understand that if one object were twice as large as another object, it would need twice as much force to move it the
same amount.
Also expect students to also understand that two objects pushing off of each other experience the same force.)

combustion: A chemical process where a fuel and an oxidizer are reacted producing heat, light and hot gases.
compressor: A mechanical component that increases the pressure of a gas flowing through it.
radial engine: A gasoline combustion engine where stationary pistons are arranged in a circle around a moving crankshaft.
rotary engine: A gasoline combustion engine where moving pistons are arranged in a circle around a stationary crankshaft.
rotational energy: The amount of energy possessed by a body as a result of its rotational motion proportional to its mass and
radius.
thrust: The forward-directed force developed in a jet or rocket engine as a reaction to the high-velocity rearward ejection of
exhaust gases or a propeller.
turbine: A mechanical component that takes energy from a moving fluid and transforms it into rotational energy.

Discussion Question/Answer: Solicit, integrate and summarize student responses.
•What is lift? (Answer: When the air pressure below a wing is greater than the air pressure above the wing, the net
upward force is called the lift..)
•What is weight? (Answer: The force with which a body is attracted to Earth or another celestial body, equal to the
product of the object's mass and the acceleration of gravity.)
•How does weight affect airplane flight? (Answer: Weight is the force that pulls an airplane back towards the Earth.
Weight must be overcome by lift, as discussed in Lesson 2 of the Airplanes unit, in order to achieve flight. The force of
lift must be greater than the weight of an airplane for the airplane to climb.)
•What affects airplane weight? (Answer: The materials with which the plane is made.)
•How do you think airplanes move through the air? (Have the students review what they have learned so far about the
four forces affecting flight.)


class as a whole.
•How does weight affect airplane flight? (Answer: Weight is the force that pulls an airplane back towards the Earth. Weight must be overcome by
lift (as seen in Lesson 2 of the Airplanes unit) in order to achieve flight. The force of lift must be greater than the weight of an airplane for the
airplane to climb.)
•What affects the weight of an airplane? (Answer: The materials from which the plane is constructed.)
•What must engineers consider when choosing the materials to build an airplane? (Answer: Engineers choose the materials they use based on
many factors: strength and weight are the some of the most important factors in designing airplanes. Other important criteria are material cost,
appearance and durability.)
Airplane lessons

Forces on an aircraft
Airplane lessons

Summary
Students learn about the drag force on airplanes and are introduced to the concept of conservation of
energy and how it relates to drag. They learn the difference between friction drag, form drag and
induced drag, and how thrust is involved. They explore the relationship between drag and the shape,
speed and size of objects.
When designing airplanes, engineers keep in mind the force of drag and the principle of energy
conservation. Since drag slows down airplanes and makes them less efficient (requiring more fuel),
engineers aim to design planes that reduce drag. Minimizing the amount of drag acting on aircraft often
involves modifying the wing and/or fuselage shapes.
May the Force Be with You: Drag Airplane lessons

How would you define drag? (Answer: For our purposes, drag is defined as something that slows you down.)
You can feel drag when you walk in a swimming pool. A fisherman feels the drag on his lure as he pulls it through the water. Drag is a force that
acts in the opposite direction than an object is moving.
What happens to your arm/hand when you stick it out the window of a moving car? (Answer: The arm/hand gets pushed backwards.)
This is because drag is acting on your hand. Now, what can you do to increase the amount of drag on your hand? (Answer: Turn the hand so that
the palm is facing into the wind or have the driver speed up.)
Drag depends on characteristics such as the size, shape and speed of an object.
Can you think of a situation where drag is a good thing to have occur? (Possible answers: To help cars stop after a drag race, to slow down a plane
when it lands on a runway, etc.) An excellent example of drag being a useful force is during skydiving: skydivers rely on drag to slow down their
falls so that safe landings take place — hence, the reason for parachutes.
Like any other object that moves through the air, airplanes also experience drag. This is not always beneficial, however, since we want airplanes
to move forward very quickly and drag slows planes down. Overcoming drag has always been a primary design challenge for aerospace
engineers. Airplanes overcome drag by generating thrust.
Engineers calculate the drag on airplanes by using information about the size, shape and speed of the airplanes. Using this information, they can
decide how much thrust is needed to overcome drag and keep the airplane aloft.


What Is Drag?
Drag is a force that acts on an object in the opposite direction than that object is moving.
An object must be moving through some kind of fluid for drag to occur.
A fluid is a substance (liquid or gas) in which the particles can move past each other freely.
The most obvious fluid is water, but gases, including air, are fluids as well.
Students can conduct the worksheet led associated activity What a Drag! to help illustrate this concept by completing
several fun experiments. (Do the Drag Worksheet and Shapes)


How Does Drag Slow Airplanes?
Air is the fluid through which airplanes move. When an airplane flies through the air, it runs into air molecules that
cause it to slow down. Energy from the moving plane is transferred to the air molecules.
In other words, some of the kinetic energy (energy it possesses because of its motion) from the airplane is given to
the air molecules, slowing down the airplane and speeding up the surrounding air. The amount of energy lost by the
airplane is exactly the amount of energy transferred to the air.
This is an example of the first law of thermodynamics that states energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Engineers often refer to the first law of thermodynamics as the conservation of energy principle, which means that
energy is always conserved. Energy must go somewhere and in the case of drag, the energy in the movement of an
object is transferred into moving the gas in the path of the object (in the case of an airplane, moving the air around it).
This transfer of energy results in three types of drag: friction drag, form drag and induced drag.

How Does Drag Slow Airplanes?
Friction drag comes from air moving across the surface of the airplane. On a very small scale,
the surface of an airplane is rough, like sandpaper. If you run your hand over sandpaper, the
sandpaper catches your skin and slows down or stops your hand movement.
The same thing happens with an airplane. The "skin" of the airplane catches the air particles
next to it and tries to pull the air particles along. This slows the airplane down as air particles
speed up.
Form drag is caused by the airplane pushing air molecules to the side so the airplane can pass by
them. A streamlined shape (like an airplane wing) has very little form drag (by design!). A non-
streamlined shape, like a parachute, has a lot of form drag (by design!).
Induced drag (see Figure 1) is created at the tips of the airplane wings. In order to achieve lift,
the wings create a low-pressure region above the wings and a high-pressure region below the Figure 1. Induced drag at the tip of an
wings. At the end of the wing, high-pressure air underneath the wing tries to move around the end airplane wing.
of the wing to the low-pressure air on top of the wing. This creates a swirling vortex of air at the
wingtip. The energy needed to move the air in the vortex is taken from the movement of the
plane, creating induced drag.

What Do Engineers Do about Drag?
The challenge for engineers is to find creative ways to reduce drag so that airplanes can go faster
and fly more efficiently.
The less drag an airplane experiences, the less fuel it needs to fly at the same speed.
Friction drag increases as the surface area of the wing increases and as the roughness of the wing
increases.
Form drag increases as the cross-sectional area of the plane increases, and the shape becomes
less streamlined.
Engineers reduce form and friction drag by making the body of the plane more streamlined,
the wings more narrow, or by using new materials and manufacturing processes to make the Figure 1. Induced drag at the tip of an
skin of the plane smoother. airplane wing.
Engineers reduce induced drag by making the ends of the wings oval shaped or by adding wing
tips that stick up from the end of the wing. Through the efforts of engineers, airplanes are
continually changing shape to improve their efficiency and performance (be more aerodynamic).

Lesson Closure
(Wrap up the lesson in a class discussion using the following prompts.)
•What are the four forces that affect flight? (Answer: Lift, weight, thrust and drag.)
•How do they cause airplanes to fall, rise, slow down or speed up?
•How does drag slow down airplanes?
•Will the drag on an object increase if the surface area is increased or the object speeds up?
(Answer: Yes to both, the drag increases.)
•How does designing an airplane with less drag affect its speed and efficiency? (Answer: An
airplane with less drag can go faster and is more efficient because more power from the engines is
used in pushing the airplane forwards instead of moving the air molecules out of the path of the
plane.)
cross-sectional area: The projected area of a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional plane.
drag: The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid.
fluid: A continuous, amorphous substance whose molecules move freely past one another and that has the tendency to assume the shape of its contain
a liquid or gas.
gas: The state of matter distinguished from the solid and liquid states by relatively low density and viscosity, relatively great expansion and contracti
with changes in pressure and temperature, the ability to diffuse readily, and the spontaneous tendency to become distributed uniformly throughout an
container.
kinetic energy: The energy possessed by a body because of its motion, equal to one half the mass of the body times the square of its speed.
liquid: The state of matter in which a substance exhibits a characteristic readiness to flow, little or no tendency to disperse, and relatively high
incompressibility.
molecule: The smallest particle of a substance that retains the chemical and physical properties of the substance and is composed of two or more atom
a group of like or different atoms held together by chemical forces.
surface area: The extent of a two-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary.

Assessment
Discussion Question/Answer Review: Solicit, integrate, and summarize student responses.
•What is lift? (Answer: When the air pressure below a wing is greater than the air pressure above the wing, there is a net
upward force called lift.)
•What is weight? (Answer: The force with which a body is attracted to Earth or another celestial body, equal to the product of
the object's mass and the acceleration of gravity.)
•How would you define drag? (Answer: Drag is a force that acts on an object in the direction opposite the direction that the
object is moving.)
Assessment
Voting: Ask a true/false question and have students vote by holding thumbs up for true and thumbs down for false. Count the
number of true and false and write the number on the board. Give the right answer.
•True or False: The purpose of engines on an airplane is essentially to overcome the force of drag so that the pilot decides
when to land the plane instead of having gravity take over. (True)
•True or False: Drag is always a bad thing. (False: Parachutes need drag to effectively slow a parachuter down in order to
avoid injury when landing.)
•True or False: As the speed of an object increases the drag decreases. (False: The drag increases as speed increases.)
•True or False: There is no drag in space. (True: There is no air in space, and therefore, there is no drag.)
Assessment
Voting: Ask a true/false question and have students vote by holding thumbs up for true and thumbs down for false. Count the
number of true and false and write the number on the board. Give the right answer.
•True or False: The purpose of engines on an airplane is essentially to overcome the force of drag so that the pilot decides
when to land the plane instead of having gravity take over. (True)
•True or False: Drag is always a bad thing. (False: Parachutes need drag to effectively slow a parachuter down in order to
avoid injury when landing.)
•True or False: As the speed of an object increases the drag decreases. (False: The drag increases as speed increases.)
•True or False: There is no drag in space. (True: There is no air in space, and therefore, there is no drag.)

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MECHANICAL/MECHANISIM

May the Force Be with You: Lift

May the Force Be with You: Weight

May the Force Be with You: Thrust

May the Force Be with You: Drag

Airplane Tails & Wings: Are You in Control?

Can You Take the Pressure?

Can You Take the Pressure?

Can You Take the Pressure?

Can You Take the Pressure?

Lesson Background and Concepts

Lesson Background and Concepts

How Does Air Pressure Work?

Lesson Background and Concepts

What Is Bernoulli's Principle?

Lesson Background and Concepts

Engineers and the Bernoulli Principle

force: A push or pull on an object.

Discussion Questions: Solicit, integrate, and summarize student responses.

•Why doesn't air escape into space? (Answer: Gravity)

May the Force Be with You: Lift

Airplane wings create lift to help keep it in flight

May the Force Be with You: Lift

The Four Forces of Flight

The four forces of flight are lift, weight, thrust and drag. Lift and

How Does Bernoulli's Principle Create Lift?

The wings are the parts of an airplane that create lift. If we

How Does Bernoulli's Principle Create Lift?

The result of this difference in air pressure is a net

As illustrated in Figure 3, the air moving under the

Since there is more force under the wing than above

Figure 3. How a wing produces lift.

How Does Bernoulli's Principle Create Lift?

Flaps are present on the front and back edges of wings.

During takeoff and landing, pilots extend the flaps on

The flaps increase the camber (curve) of the wing, which

•When weight is greater than lift, an airplane descends? (Answer: True)

Lesson Summary Assessment

Lesson Summary Assessment

May the Force Be with You: Weight

Forces acting on an aircraft

May the Force Be with You: Weight

May the Force Be with You: Weight

The key is the different physical properties of each material.

(Possible answers: weight, strength, resistance to heat, conductivity, cost, manufacturability

May the Force Be with You: Weight

May the Force Be with You:

The optimum choice of materials is also very important in airplane design.

(Possible answers: Weight is an important property since airplanes need to be as light as

May the Force Be with You: Weight

May the Force Be with You: Weight

Lesson Background and Concepts

May the Force Be with You: WeightAirplane lessons

Lesson Background and Concepts

How Does Weight Affect Flight?

Weight is the force that pulls an airplane back towards the

The force of lift must be greater than the weight of an

Refer to the associated activity Physics Tug of War to have

May the Force Be with You: WeightAirplane lessons

Lesson Background and Concepts

Why Use Different Materials?

May the Force Be with You: Weight Airplane lessons

Lesson Background and Concepts