Aerodynamics of Planes

Aerodynamics of Planes

Ever since I was little I was amazed at the ability for a machine to fly. I have always wanted to explore ideas of flight and be able to actually fly. I think I may have found my childhood fantasy in the world of aeronautical engineering. The object of my paper is to give me more insight on my future career as an aeronautical engineer. This paper was also to give me ideas of the physics of flight and be to apply those physics of flight to compete in a high school competition.

History of Flight

The history of flying dates back as early as the fifteenth century. A Renaissance man named Leonardo da Vinci introduced a flying machine known as the ornithopter. Da Vinci proposed the idea of a machine that had bird like flying capabilities. Today no ornithopters exist due to the restrictions of humans, and that the ornithopters just aren’t practical. During the eighteenth century a philosopher named Sir George Cayley had practical ideas of modern aircraft. Cayley never really designed any workable aircraft, but had many incredible ideas such as lift, thrust, and rigid wings to provide for lift. In the late nineteenth century the progress of aircraft picks up. Several designers such as Henson and Langley, both paved the way for the early 1900’s aircraft design. Two of the most important people in history of flight were the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were given the nickname the “fathers of the heavier than air flying machine” for their numerous flights at their estate in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright created a motor-powered biplane in which they established incredible feats of the time. The Wright Brothers perfected their design of the heavier than air flying ma...

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...Another way to decrease the disturbance over the wings are to move the wings lower than the horizontal stabilizer or visa versa to allow the shock waves moving over each wing to miss each other. Most aircraft today do not have enough fuel to maintain the speed of sound for great distances. Engineers have designed a brand new aircraft known as the F-22, which has the ability to fly an entire mission at supersonic speeds. The speed of light is unattainable by aircraft due to drag. We have no materials that could with stand the heat caused by the friction of the air moving over its body, nor materials strong enough to be able to take the enormous drag. Today there is no thrust capability that would allow for the speed of light. Although aircraft has proved such things as time dilation it is still impossible for an aircraft to travel at 900,000 miles per second.