The transition from the Renaissance to Flight is a surprisingly smooth one -- of course, man has looked up to the sky and wished to fly since time began. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the earliest engineers who drew flying machines and dreamed of being able to soar through the air - and that was over four hundred years before manned flight became a reality.
We will learn more about early dreamers and aviators - but our main emphasis this month will be on the science of flight. Helicopters, airplanes, kites and parachutes will be made and put to the test in various experiments. We will learn and experience terms like drag, lift and thrust. We will investigate Bernoulli's principle, which helps explain that an aircraft can achieve lift because of the shape of its wings. Math concepts will be practiced as we measure how far various aircrafts have gone.
3 comments:
Of course my state boasts Orville & Wilbur Wright and our license plates say "First in Flight". Should be a very interesting study for your class. Have fun.
Odie
We have had really great talks about Leonardo and his influence on the world. Flight was magical thinking put on paper...what opportunities await in these young minds?
I was just thinking about flight over the weekend, and how amazing it is that we went from the Wright brothers and their 59 second flight in North Carolina, to putting men on the moon (and bringing them back again), in less than 100 years time. It's truly incredible... Anyway, it got me to thinking about when kids first started playing with paper airplanes. I'm assuming they predated the Wright brothers, but I don't know that for sure.
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