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At this Web
site you can study aerodynamics at your own pace and to your own
level of interest. Some of the topics included are: Newton's basic
equations of motion; the motion of a free
falling object, that neglects the effects of aerodynamics; the
terminal velocity of a falling object subject to both weight and
air resistance; the three forces (lift,
drag, and weight) that act on a glider;
and finally, the four forces that act on a powered airplane.
Because aerodynamics involves both the motion
of the object and the reaction of the air, there are several pages
devoted to basic gas properties and how
those properties change through the atmosphere.
This site was
created at NASA Glenn as part of the Learning
Technologies Project (LTP). It is currently supported by the
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
at NASA HQ through the
Educational Programs Office at
NASA Glenn. The purpose for this web site is
to provide background information on basic aerodynamics as
teaching aids for math and science teachers. Some
of the slides were prepared to support
FoilSim,
an interactive
educational computer program that allows students to design and
test airfoil shapes on a personal computer. Other slides were prepared
to support the Digital Learning Network (DLN) videoconferencing
workshops
for teachers and students.
The slides were collected into
Power Point Presentations
which are made available to teachers and students.
There is a special section of the Beginner's Guide which deals with
compressible,
or high speed, aerodynamics. This section is intended for undergraduates who
are studying
shock waves or
isentropic flows
and contains several
calculators and simulators
for that flow regime.
This site has been intentionally organized to mirror the unstructured nature of the world
wide web. There are many pages here connected
to one another through hyperlinks and you can then navigate through
the links based on your own interest and inquiry.
There is an Aerodynamics Index of topics that you
can access from any page, so you are never more than two clicks
away from any other Web page at this site.
However, if you
prefer a more structured approach, you can also take one of our
Guided Tours through the site. Each tour
provides a sequence of pages dealing with some aspect of aerodynamics.
For younger students, a simpler explanation of the information on this page is available on the
Kids Page.
NOTICE ---
The site has been developed to support Section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Many of the pages contain mathematical
equations which have been produced graphically and which are too
long or complex to provide in an "ALT" tag. For these pages, we
have retained the non-compliant graphic at the top of the page
and have provided a compliant text version of the equations in the
body of the page. In many cases, because of the use of Greek fonts in the
graphics, the purely English text version of the equations is slightly
different than the graphic version. The differences are noted in the text.
Activities:
- Problem Sets for the BGA
- Aerospace Activities and Lesson Plans
Navigation..
- Beginner's Guide Home Page
- Downloadable Movies
- Beginner's Guide to Propulsion
- Beginner's Guide to Compressible Aerodynamics
- Beginner's Guide to Wind Tunnels
- Beginner's Guide to Model Rockets
- Beginner's Guide to Kites
- Free Software
- Aerospace Resources
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