How Airplanes Fly
The Dynamics of Airplane Flight
How Planes Fly
and How Pilots Control Them
How does an airplane fly?
How do pilots control the
flight of an airplane?
Here are the principles and
elements of the aircraft that are involved in flying and controlling flight.
Using Air to Create Flight
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
gasses; oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. All things that fly need air.
Air has the
power to push and pull on the birds, balloons, kites and planes.
In 1640, Evangelista
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 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 makes 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.
Newton's Three Laws of Motion
Sir Isaac Newton proposed three laws of motion in 1665. These
laws help to explain how a plane 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.
Four Forces of Flight
The
four forces of flight are:
·
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?
The
pilot uses several instruments to control the plane.
The pilot controls the engine
power using the throttle.
.
Pushing the throttle increases power, and pulling it decreases power.
.
Pushing the throttle increases power, and pulling it decreases power.
Ailerons - 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.
Rudder - 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.
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.
Elevators - 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 backward.
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.
If you look at these motions
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 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). General aviation is the lowest speed. 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). 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). The speed of sound is 760 MPH. 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). 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.
Mary Bellis has
been writing about inventors since 1997. She also loves to tinker (invent) and
spends too much time in her workshop developing her ideas.
Experience
Forbes Best
of the Web credits Mary for creating the number one online destination for
information about inventors and inventions. Her writing has been reprinted and
referenced to in numerous educational books and articles. Her opinion and
advice is requested by media outlets on a constant basis. In addition, she has
produced and directed a number of films, including a documentary on Alexander
Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and has worked as a curator
specializing in computer generated art.
Education
Mary has two degrees in film and animation from the San
Francisco Art Institute. She is a big fan of both history and technology and an
avid reader of books and periodicals on those topics.
Mary Bellis
I have a passion for inventing and a deep respect for all
inventors. I know firsthand the difficulties that inventors face and I want to
help by making the path from idea to marketplace a clearer process.
https://www.thoughtco.com/dynamics-of-airplane-flight-4075424
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