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Why do planes fly? The physics of flight
Realizado por: Giulianny Ortega Cl. 31.340.311 Sección B
Wright Brothers: Was your plane the first in history?
Why do planes fly? The physics of flight Already in the middle of the 15th century, the genius Leonardo da Vinci was devoting himself to this thought: "Can a human being fly with more weight than air?" He was the first flight visionary to scientifically study the flight process.
In the course of the centuries that followed, other experimenters were devoting their time to the enigma of flight. Just to name a few of these brilliant minds: Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, Gustav Weisskopf, the Wright brothers, and many others. The weight of the aircraft (gravity) pulls the aircraft down and keeps it on the ground. The lift pulls the aircraft up and keeps it in the air. But only when lift is greater than gravity can the plane take off. Thrust, in turn, makes the plane move forward and drag (counter force) slows it down. The interaction of these four forces is very complex knowledge and the basis of aircraft construction. But how is it possible to make lift greater than gravity? The wings with their curved profile are responsible for the dynamic lift. Due to the shape of the wings, air can flow faster in the upper curved part than in the lower straight part. Above the wings, therefore, more suction arises. And now the speed of the plane is involved.
How is it possible? It's very simple! It is the interaction of the four aerodynamic forces:
Weight (Gravity) Lift Push Endurance
The higher the speed (thrust), the more air can flow. The suction becomes greater and the same goes for the lift. The Swiss physicist and mathematician Daniel Bernoulli discovered this phenomenon, in the 18th century, called Bernoulli's law. Of course, the engines play an important role in the thrust, because they provide the necessary power for high speeds. At a certain moment, the plane can overcome gravity, that is, the lift is greater than gravity and the plane can take off. So airplanes fly because there is a different air pressure above and below the wings. Air turbulence (air resistance) occurs in the wings during flight, causing the aircraft to slow down. Therefore, the shape and quality of the surface of an aircraft play a very important role in air resistance. The less resistance to overcome during flight, the less kerosene has to burn to generate thrust.
Wright Brothers, Was Your Plane The First Ever? On December 14, 1903, the Wright brothers had their airplane ready.
Taken from EXPANSIÓN Magazine. Francisco Cabrillo
Wilbur and Orville Wright were born in 1867 and 1871,
After the first tests, the plane was being used in sports
respectively. While running a bicycle factory in Ohio, they
activities and, especially, as a weapon of war. Aviation at
began studying flight techniques and designing an
that time was experiencing a great expansion in the First
aerodynamic model that would make it possible; which
World War, in which the individual confrontations
culminated in the aforementioned test of 1903. But they
between pilots were becoming a modern version of the old
were certainly not the only ones dedicated to this activity
duels of the knights of the Middle Ages. Much more dire,
in those years. In 1906, Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian
however, was the role of the air gun in WWII, in which
living in Paris, made a similar flight; and since he did not
airplanes were not only being used to fight the enemy
need a launch catapult, like the one used by the Wrights,
army, but also to bombard civilians, in many cases
many consider that this was, in fact, the first flight of an
defenseless cities. All the contestants who had the
airplane in history. One or the other is right, the important
opportunity did so; and the destruction of Hiroshima and
thing is that, in the first decade of the 20th century,
Nagasaki with atomic bombs was carried out by air
promising experiments had been carried out that
strikes. That time was getting chaotic, but with the
announced that the new era of aviation had begun.
passage of time the airplanes were being well used.
Inadvertently they were making great innovations and were being great foundations for later days.