7-step lesson plan

aerospace engineering  week 4 lesson plan

I.

Identification

  • Module: Aerospace Engineering
  • Lesson Title: Generation of lift and the lift Equation (Week 4)
  • Duration: Five hours minimum
  • Author: John R. Hull, Morgan Hill, CA jrhull@aol.com
  • Date: Feb 1, 2001

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II.

Academic Content Standards

  • CA Physics 1,2,3,4
  • CA Algebra I 1,2,3,4,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,22
  • CA Algebra II 2,3,4,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,21,23
  • CA Engineering Technology 2,4,5,6
  • CA Drafting Technology 1
  • CA Language Arts Reading 1,2; Oral 1; Listening/Speaking 1,2
  • SCANS 1,2,3,4,5,6,8
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III.

Preparation

  • Collect the equipment for your flying demonstration. Hair dryer tennis ball, paper or Legos or clay to have students design flying objects
  • Download and familiarize yourself with the NASA FoilSim wind tunnel simulator (see resources). This model will be used in class for the laboratory. Load the program on as many computers as you have (ideally one for every one or two students-you may want to set up and use the computer lab)
  • If you have access to a wind tunnel laboratory (local university, industrial test facility) try to arrange a tour as part of this lesson.
  • You'll find construction plans for classroom wind tunnel in Resources. You could make building the wind tunnel a class engineering project for your first year or two, then incorporate live testing into the curriculum.
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IV.

Lesson Objectives

  • Students use scientific methods to deduce how airplanes fly
  • Students know aerodynamics fundamentals and that energy created by moving air and air circulation around a body is how lift is generated.
  • Students are introduced to the lift equation as a theoretical method to calculate lifting forces in air. Students can calculate lift and other force and energy problems and similar second order equations.
  • Students use experimental methods (wind tunnel or air flow simulators) to identify the variables that cause lift on aircraft wing
  • Students use technology and engineering tools (computers, models, or graphs to inquire and test aerodynamics theories.
  • Use a wind tunnel to perform a variety of experiments
  • Use a small wind tunnel to measure aerodynamic forces and moments, and to visualize airflows.
  • Understand the variables that affect lift and perform calculations to compute lift and other forces
  • Use a computer simulation to analyze the variables that affect lift
  • Understand the fluid dynamics that cause lift in a airfoil
  • Understand Bernoulli’s principle and use it to explain physical phenomena
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V.

Delivery (Teaching Strategies)

  • A good grabber is to ask students to describe, draw or construct something that will fly. They will probably think of airplanes, maybe rockets. They may also pick a sailboat, a race car, baseball, a rock and they would all be correct.
  • Demonstrate flying a table tennis ball with a hair dryer (Exploratorium Science Snack http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/balancing_ball.html ) or a beach ball with a vacuum cleaner set to blow. Have students describe what they see and develop some hypotheses on why the balls behave the way they do. (Critical thinking, scientific method)
  • Lead into guided PowerPoint discussion of the field of aerodynamics and fluid mechanics to show how lift is generated by air circulation around a body. Transition to aeronautics and how lift is generated and measured for airfoils (aircraft wings)
  • Specific Physics and mathematics standards apply here. See the PowerPoint presentation notes for this lesson to see applications of all the reference standards for this lesson
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  • Physics 1.h.* Students know Newton’s laws are not exact but provide very good approximations unless an object is moving close to the speed of light or is small enough that quantum effects are important.
  • Physics 1.j.* Students know how to resolve two-dimensional vectors into their components and calculate the magnitude and direction of a vector from its components.
  • Physics 2.a. The laws of conservation of energy and momentum provide a way to predict and describe the movement of objects. As a basis for understanding this concept, Students know how to calculate kinetic energy by using the formula E = (1/2)mv 2 .
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  • Finally, give students a demonstration of the FoilSim program and work through several example problems to help them get started on their own experiments.
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VI.

Guided Practice

  • Armed with the theory of aerodynamic lift, Students will now be introduced to wind tunnel testing using NASA, Glen Research Center air foil simulator (FoilSim). Each student or small team will work through the simulator program self guided lesson plan to understand and see the variables that generate lift.
  • Give students a demonstration of the FoilSim program and work through several example problems to help them get started on their own experiments.ons on how lift force is created and how to predict and measure lift. Simulation models such as NASA's airfoil
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  • In working through the laboratory, students will exercise several Engineering Technology Standards. For Example,
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  • ET Standard 1: Students will understand that engineering is solving problems by applying principles of mathematics, science, and technology. Students will solve problems using common engineering practices.
  • ET Standard 2: Students will understand the design process and how to solve analysis and design problems.
  • ET Standard 5: Students will understand and demonstrate communication skills necessary in the field of engineering. They will employ an individual and team approach while solving engineering problems.
  • ET Standard 6: Students will understand the relationships between force, work, rate, power, energy, resistance, and force transformers and demonstrate these principles on the engineering systems; mechanical, electrical, fluid, and thermal.
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  • The laboratory will also help students practice all 8 SCANS: 1-Plan, manage resources;, 2-develop interpersonal skills; 3-Gather, use Information; 4-Understand systems; 5-Use technology; 6-Reading, writing, speaking, math listening, follow directions; 7-Thinking; ,-Personal qualities
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VII.

Evaluation

  • Evaluate against lesson objectives and standards
  • Authentic assessment is recommended. Observe, assess, all reports, speeches, group activities, journals, project judging all work. Use the guide for evaluating student presentations on the web site.
  • Constantly evaluate SCANS and literacy skills in all lessons. Create teaching moments from particularly good and not so good observations
  • Use a work sheet, homework and the quiz questions found on the web site. 
  • Sample aerodynamics and fluid mechanics problems from Physics by Halliday and Resnick
    1. (a) Explain how a pitcher can make a baseball curve to his left or right. Justify your answer by drawing a diagram of the streamlines and applying Bernoulli's equation. (b) Why is it easier to throw a curve with a tennis ball than with a baseball?
    2. Two rowboats moving parallel to one another in the same direction are pulled toward one another. Two automobiles moving parallel are also pulled together. Explain this phenomenon using Bernoulli's equation.
    3. On takeoff would it be better for an airplane to move into the wind or with the wind? On landing?
    4. Does the difference in pressure between the lower and upper surfaces of an airplane wing depend on the altitude of the moving plane? Explain.
    5. The accumulation of ice on an airplane wing may change its shape in such away that its lift is greatly reduced. Explain.
    6. How is an airplane able to fly upside down?
    7. Air streams horizontally past an airplane wing 36 ft2 weighing 540#. The speed over the top surface is 200 ft/sec and 150 ft/sec under the bottom surface. What is the lift on the wing. What is the net force on it?

VIII. Resources
  • Equipment for the demonstration is probably from the school custodian and the PE teacher, and home dressing room (hair blow dryer, shop vacuum, ping pong balls, inflatable beach ball. Use one for demonstration or if you're brave, equip small teams of students.
  • The PowerPoint Lesson on Lift is at our web site, http://www.engineering-ed.org, as current links to many of the resources listed.
  • Use NASA Glen Research Center for hundreds of lessons, charts, teaching tools, lesson plans and activities. http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/. NASA has a wealth of resources for space and aerodynamics education
  • Download NASA Glen Research FoilSim program. http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/aerosim/index.html. It's good, and it's free. NASA also has other engineering tools such as a new aircraft propulsion simulator.
  • Use our recommended questions and test style or create worksheets, quizzes from the materials and resources provided.
  • Visit the San Francisco Exploratorium for great science teaching resources. http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/snackintro.html. The Exploritorium Snacks is a compendium of hundreds of active attention getting demonstrations designed to spark a curiosity for science among students.