1. Science and Discoveries in Europe through the four elements Air Základná škola J. Lipského s MŠ Trenčianske Stankovce, Slovakia, 2011-2012 Project Comenius

2. Make a flying thing

3. Introduction – motivation Pupils (in groups) gave some examples of things that fly Natural: birds, butterflies, insects...( they have got wings) Man made things: gliders, kites, planes, helicopters, hot air baloons, rockets... What is flying? Movement of some things through the air. How can the things fly? The pupils tried to find out the answers in next flying demonstrations.

4. Activities - demonstrations At first the pupils tried these shapes of paper, the weight was the same The paper ball fell down on the floor the first. The sheet of paper with holes was flying but the third sheet of paper tought the floor as the last. Why? The ball is more „aerodynamic“ and the air resistance is smaller.

5. Gliders, planes Pupils made a lot of paper planes, because the wings of birds and planes are similar. This aerofoil shape helps to overcome weight and gives something called lift. This force required to overcome gravity, being produced by a wing as it moves through the air. This action allows the object to lift up and push forward.

6. It was difficult to compare the flying effects of various shapes because the children threw them with different strength.

7. They needed a big enough space to measure the length of these planes flights so they tried them in the school corridor. But they couldn´t avoid some disadvantages such as the ceiling, the walls... Everyone had a few tries and they compared the best results. They were throwing paper airplanes of different designs and shapes. Which worked better and why? The shape of planes is very important. The planes with sharp folds and symmetrical achieved the greatest possible distance.

8. The best flying conditions were outside the school. But in this case it depended on the wind.

9. Lots of seeds have 'wings' so they can float to new areas and sprout. For example sycamore or these ash tree seeds. The tree grows in our school area so the children know it and so they tried these ´helicopters´. The wings were spinning very quickly and so the seeds were falling slowly down. Helicopter The helicopter shape we made in the following activity is also found in nature. The children brought the ash tree seeds as „small helicopters“.

10. The children made these paper helicopters. These wings consist of two blades that spin around, which makes a helicopter move. The rotating wings of a helicopter are narrow and thin because they must spin very quickly.

11. They dropped them from above their heads and they were spinning very quickly creating lift and allowing ´the helicopter´ to fly and to fall to the ground slowly. It was a very simple and good model as the helicopter can fly.

12. The pupils tried to make similar paper ´helicopters´. These ones consist of five blades that spin around. They could see how this affects the speed at which its blades spin and how quickly it falls to the ground.

13. Both helicopters were falling slowly down. But the pupils could see that the helicopter with two blades was falling down more slowly because the blades were spinning more quickly.

14. This experiment was very interesting for the youngest pupils. They enjoyed it very much.

15. One girl made another type of blades, but it was difficult to compare with the others, because this one was much more bigger and heavier and the ladder was not long enough to spin it quickly.

16. The children know that whatever is thrown up always comes down – they tried it. Why? This is due to a force called gravity - which comes from the centre of the earth and attracts everything (physical things, living beings) to the surface of the earth. This is why we are able to walk on the earth otherwise we would be flying around. These pupils tried to lift these ping-pong balls. They blew them up and the air flow lifted the balls up. The problem was when they had to breath again. Another demonstrations to help explain flight

17. So they also used a hairdryer to float ping-pong or light cotton or polysterene balls.

18. Baloons In the baloon there was not any helium. It is the gas that is lighter than air and so the balloons can float. Our baloon inflated with breath (oxygen, carbon dioxide, water) was falling down because it was heavier. The children also tried static electricity experiment. They rubbed the balloon against woolen fabric or on hair. It created static electricity (very funny for them).

19. The balloons did not fall down after rubbing the balloons on the plastic part of the lamp (static electricity). The baloon and the plastic part were attracted each other.

20. This balloon was also inflated with breath, the girl used hairdryer to float it.

21. Hot balloon We tried ´hot baloon´made of a garbage bag. For inflating we used hot air from hairdryer. Hot air is lighter so the baloon is flying up. We also tried to blow the balloon with cold air, but it fell down

22. Reactive balloon - satelite For this demonstration we used an inflated balloon and a drinking straw. It was closed by a piece of Plasticine.

23. Then one girl cut a piece of the straw with Plasticine with scissors. The air was coming out of the balloon and it moved.

24. Parachutes Parachute is a piece of equipment fastened to the back of people who jump out of planes, which makes them fall slowly and safely to the ground. Why?

25. Firstly they built the parachutes of various light materials. The strings had the same length. They tied the open ends of the strings to the object they were using as a weight (toy – not heavy). Then the parachutes were ready to be tested.

26. They used the ladder to drop the parachutes and test how well they work. When they released the parachute the weight pulled down on the strings and opened up a large surface area of material that used air resistance to slow it down.

27. The larger the parachute the more air resistance and the slower the parachute dropped. The pupils tried to change some parametres weight of the toy parachute size the length of the strings In both cases the parachutes could not open and so they dropped fast on the ground.

28. Tento projekt bol zrealizovaný vďaka finančnej podpore Európskej komisie