1. What’s Keeping Me Up?

2. US Air Force C-5 The largest plane in the US Air Force.

3. US Air Force C-5 The largest plane in the US Air Force.

4. US Air Force C-5 The largest plane in the US Air Force.

5. US Air Force C-5 The largest plane in the US Air Force.

6. There are four forces that act on a plane in flight How does a plane stay in the air? LIFT GRAVITY THRUST DRAG

7. THRUST thrust – the force that moves a plane forward – this force is generated by an engine that drives a propeller or by a jet engine

8. DRAG drag – friction of air that resists the forward motion of the plane – think of this as air resistance, impeding the forward motion of the plane

9. GRAVITY gravity – the force that pulls the plane down toward the ground

10. LIFT lift – an upward force caused by a difference in air pressure – this is the force that allows the plane to stay off the ground – Wright Brothers First Flight Wright Brothers First Flight

11. LIFT Bernoulli’s Principle – states that as air moves, air pressure drops. Therefore, faster air speeding over an object produces lift.

12. LIFT an airplane wing is shaped so that the air moving over the top of the wing moves faster than the air moving across the bottom of the wing

13. LIFT this makes a difference between air pressures on the top and bottom of the wing: the air pressure on the top is less than the air pressure on the bottom

14. 4 Main Properties of an Airplane Wing cross-sectional shape angle of attack surface area mass

15. Cross-Sectional Shape of the Wing determines the amount of lift and drag the more curvature on the top part of the wing, the stronger the lift – this happens because the air on top of the wing must travel farther and therefore faster, decreasing the pressure on top of the wing too much thickness in the wing causes increased drag because a partial vacuum develops behind the wing

16. Angle of Attack of the Wing the angle at which the wing meets the air stream at slow speeds, the angle of attack must be increased to produce enough lift the faster a plane is moving, it requires a smaller the angle of attack to stay in the air too much of an angle, however, can cause the plane to lose lift

17. Surface Area of the Wing the total surface area of the wing determines the total amount of lift generated by the wing

18. Mass of the Wing the mass of the wing is affected by gravity, and so enough lift must be produced to overcome the weight of the wing