Have you ever been in an aeroplane? Flying up high in the air as free as a bird is a great feeling. There are other ways also in which humans can be part of flying like birds.
Lets find out more about this.
Birds were made to fly, but it is a new concept for humans and we cannot do it without the help of Science.
Humans started out by flying kites and then made more progress to the aeroplanes and helicopters and even supersonic flights as time went by. Supersonic flight means that the object (the aeroplane) can fly faster than the speed of sound which is 1235 km/h.
Orville and Wilbur Wright, two brothers, were the first people to successfully built an aeroplane that could stay in the air for a little while. Since then technology has developed a lot and aeroplanes can now stay hours up in the air and fly all over the world.
While a number of flight pioneers were working on their own powered flight at the time (including New Zealand's Richard Pearse) the Wright Brothers are widely credited with the first controlled and sustained human flight on December 17, 1903.
Planes must have special wings that will overcome the effect of the gravity of earth pulling it down. These are called 'airfoil shape'. This shape will let the air flow faster over the top of the wing than the bottom and that creates a higher pressure under the wing which pushes the aeroplane up in the air.
The air creates friction, but the engine of the aeroplane gives enough energy to the plane to overcome the friction to move forward.
Certain animals can fly and the ones that we say have 'powered flight' which can move forward by themselves and not only because they are gliding, are bats, birds and insects.
Flying fish look as though they fly, but they actually glide for long distances through the air because their fins are enlarged and act as 'wings'.
- Have a look at this interesting video.
- You can also do some crafts from the page here.
