Activity 4.1.1 The Science of Flight: The Spirit of Innovation

Introduction

"Successful four flights Thursday morning all against twenty-one mile wind started from level with engine power alone." With this simple statement in a telegraph to his father on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright described one of the most important achievements of the 20th century: man had taken to the sky with the first-ever sustained powered flight. But how did he and his brother Wilbur, two bicycle builders from Dayton, Ohio, engineer such a remarkable triumph?

In this activity you will watch the video The Science of Flight: The Spirit of Innovation.This video will introduce you to the innovators of aviation, explore the technology that has advanced flight, and preview the next generations of airplanes.

Equipment

  • Gateway notebook
  • Pencil

Procedure

Answer the following questions as you watch the video.

Milestones in Aviation

  1. What was the name of Charles Lindbergh’s single winged airplane for his solo flight across the Atlantic?
  1. What was Charles Lindbergh’s biggest problem in his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean?
  1. How long was Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight?
  1. One of the most important developments in aerospace mass transportation was the development of the 747 airplane. How does the 747 lift off the ground?
  1. When and where was the first jet airplane developed?
  1. In a jet engine, ______is sucked into the front of a compressor, where______is injected into the high pressure air, is ignited, and is pushed out the______of the compressor, moving the plane ______.
  2. What three unique tricks can a Harrier plane perform?
  1. The Harrier can also fly ______.
  2. What can’t the Harrier do?
  1. How many miles per hour is the speed of sound?
  1. Who was the first person to break the sound barrier?
  1. What is the name of the passenger airplane that flies faster than the speed of sound?
  1. How fast does it fly?
  1. What strange thing happens to this plane in faster-than-sound flight?
  1. What is the speed of the space shuttle?
  1. What are the three “phases” of space shuttle flight?

The Future of Flight

  1. NASA’s long term goal is for travel in space to be as ______as travel across theAtlantic. However, we are ______away from that.
  2. Because space flight is so expensive, NASA has been working on a revolutionary form of highspeed propulsion, called ______.
  3. It is Mach ______or ______times the speed of sound.
  4. Instead of carrying oxygen to burn with the fuel, a scramjet takes the oxygenfrom the ______. This eliminates much of the ______ofthe oxygen tanks.
  5. How many years in the future do they predict manned hypersonic flight will be? ______.
  6. The Astroliner, in theory, eliminates the two solid rocket boosters on the side of the shuttle, andreplaces them with a ______which will ______the Astroliner offthe ground and into the air to about 20,000 feet.
  7. The workhorse of aviation has been the ______. But it will soon have a rival in theAirbus ______.
  8. It flies the same speed as the 747, but it will hold ______the passengers on______decks.
  9. Is it anticipated that military aircraft will look very different in the future?
  10. The most unusual looking and the most expensive airplane in the Americas is the______bomber, also called the ______bomber.
  11. How far can it go without refueling?
  12. Each plane costs more than the ______.
  13. Predator is an unmanned air vehicle which is ______feet long, weighs ______pounds, and can cruise for ______hours.
  14. It is meant to be a ______plane.
  15. The next big innovation in flying efficiency seems to be wings that ______.
  16. Helios is an unpiloted ______powered aircraft controlled from the______.
  17. The speed of Helios at takeoff and landing is about ______miles per hour.
  18. To what record height did this aircraft fly?

Conclusion

  1. Why was the Wright brothers’ flight so significant?
  1. How do transportation options affect the way we live, work, play, and travel?
  1. What kinds of planes do you think will exist in the future?
  1. Why is flying at hypersonic speed so difficult?

© 2011 Project Lead The Way, Inc.

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