Let’s Celebrate: Flight

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”-Leonardo Da Vinci.

Have you heard of Rumble Lab? If not then you have been missing out. This amazing subscription box is filled with hands on, engineering, CAD, and innovation fun for children ages 7 and up.

Visit http://rumblelab.com  and order your crate so that your kiddos and you can enjoy this wonderful learning experience.

 

 

Everything that you will need to engineer your plane is included.
What is included: guillow sky streak, guillow bullseye bi-plane, propeller, gear motor, 2 jumper wire, battery, battery chargers, electrical tape, fishing line, 4 paper clips, 2 swivels, command, and double slided tape.

 

 

 

 

 

Flying Hand Planes:

With the Hack-A-Plane comes a Guillow Bullseye Bi-Plane. Peter and Esther had so much fun experimenting with how lift affects the glide. They threw the plane at different heights and angles to see how far, high, or fast it would fly. They ran to get speed and threw the plane. They threw the plane from our 3rd story bedroom deck and they threw it by simply standing.

 

 

Airplane Shadows:

What you need: paper, a how to draw plane book, craft stick, scissors, cardboard, glue, and flashlight. Draw pictures of airplanes. Cut them out. Glue your pictures on cardboard paper and glue on stick. Find a large wall. Move couch if you need to. Shine the light on the wall and let the fun begin.

 

 

How do planes fly?

 

Gravity, thrust, drag, and lift is what is needed in order for a plane to fly properly. The thrust of the engine helps the plane move forward against the force of drag. The lift under the wings makes the plane go up against the pull of gravity.

Gravity Experiment:

All you need is a cup filled with water, cardboard, and bowl. Fill your cup with water. Place the card board over the cup and turn it over. Remove your hand which is holding the cardboard. Because there is no air in the glass and the air pressure inside the glass is greater than the pressure of the water inside the glass the water manages to stay inside the glass and does not spill.

Since gravity holds things to the earth it is natural for gravity to pull the water to the ground once the cardboard is removed.

Also, everything that goes up must go down. Gravity is so important to understand if you want to fly a plane.

 

Thrust Experiment:

What you need: a balloon, old CD, hot glue, markers, bottle cap, and needle. Color your CD. Make a few small holes on your bottle cap using a needle. Glue the cap to the CD. Blow up the balloon and twist the bottom of the balloon. Put the balloon over the cap and untwist the balloon. Now watch it go.

The balloon receives its thrust by forcing air out beneath it. This helps the hovercraft move around. There is a thin cushion of air from the hovercraft which reduces the friction between the CD and the counter. Because of the reduced friction the hovercraft can move fast.

In order for a plane to fly it must go fast to get through the force of gravity. The engines give the plane the speed it needs. The speed is a force called thrust.

Drag:

 

Air will push against the plane as the plane moves. This is what slows the plane down. This force is called Drag.

You can feel drag when you stick your hand out of a moving vehicle.

 

Lift Experiment:

 

What you need: water, cup, ice, string, and salt. Make sure your cup is filled with water to the top. Place ice in the water. Put string on the ice and pour salt on top of the string and ice. Let it sit for 1 minute. Then lift the ice using the string. The salt caused the ice to attach itself to the string. In this experiment you can learn about melting and freezing properties. When you pour the salt it allows the ice to melt. The ice will refreeze the string making it possible for us to lift.

The ice always turned to the straight side upward. So the curved side of the ice was on the bottom. We were able to lift the ice for only a few minutes before it dropped.

This is a great way to explain to kids why the wings of the plane are the shape that they are, curved on top and straight underneath.

Air also makes a force called lift. This is what makes the plane go up. Because the top of the wing is curved air goes over the top and this takes some time for the air to travel. Since it must go over the curve, it is not as strong as the air moving under the wing. The bottom of the wing is flat. The air under the wing is very strong. The air pushes up on the wing making the plane go up.

 

 

Pacific Coast Air Museum:

After learning about planes it is a great idea to visit an air museum to see airplanes up close. On the third weekend of every month this museum offers a “Climb Aboard Weekend,” where you can sit inside a pilot’s seat and play. There are over 25 aircrafts from the Cold War Era.

For more information visit: http://pacificcoastairmuseum.org. Located at One Air Museum Way, Santa Rosa.

 

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You have a chance to win your very own “Hack-A-Plane”….To be included in this draw you need to subscribe to our blog. Our subscription box in on the right side of this post under my picture. Free shipment to individuals who live in the United Sates. Winner will be announced Thursday June 23, 2016. If you have already subscribed to our blog simply leave a comment saying, “Already subscribed and would love to be included. ” Good luck. 🙂