Beginner's
Guide to Kites |
The Beginner's Guide to Kites will show you the basic
math and physics that govern the design and flight of
kites. |
In the 21st century, airplanes are a normal
part of everyday life. We see them fly over, or read about
them, or see them on television. Most of us have traveled
on an airplane, or we know someone who has. Do you ever wonder
how airplanes fly? What causes the lift that gets the airplane
off the runway? How does a pilot control the movement of the
airplane? Why are the engines on an airliner different from
the engines on a fighter plane? How does aerodynamics affect
the flight of a model rocket or a kite? The information at
this site is provided by the NASA Glennn Learning Technologies
Project (LTP) to give you a better understanding of how aircraft
work.
Each page at this site describes a single
topic related to basic airplane aerodynamics, propulsion,
model rockets, and kites. At the top of each page is a slide
that illustrates the topic. The slide is accompanied by a
caption that explains what the slide is all about and goes
into some detail about the physics and math related to the
subject of the slide. There are often links and references
to other slides and sites where you can find additional information.
For most of the web pages, activities are
available for teachers to use in class. These activities were
developed during teacher workshops including:
- Elementary and middle school teachers at two summer
workshops sponsored by LTP in 1996 and 1997.
- Middle and secondary school teachers at four summer
workshops cosponsored by the LTP and the Ohio Space Grant
Consortium in 1998 and 1999.
- Pre-service middle and secondary school teachers from
the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, in 2000.
You can access the activities by clicking
on buttons at the bottom of each page. As an aid to teachers,
we have organized the activities by grade level (K-6, 4-6,
6-8, 9-12, 11-12) using color-coded buttons. As a further
teaching aid, you can download your own copy of any slide
by using the blue "Show Slide" button located at the bottom
of each page. Clicking on this button displays the slide alone,
without the captions, and oriented in such a way to give you
the largest, most detailed copy. The colors are intentionally
ugly to give a good contrast on a black and white printer.
You can use your browser's Print command to make your
own copy of the slide. Each slide should fit on a single sheet
of 8-1/2 x 11 paper. If you find that a slide takes two sheets,
try changing the margins on printer setup in the browser menu.
(A 75% reduction is suggested for MAC users.)
This site was prepared to provide background
information on basic aerodynamics and propulsion for math
and science teachers, students, and life-long learners. We
have intentionally organized the BGA to mirror the unstructured
nature of the world wide web. There are many
pages here connected to one another through hyperlinks.
You can then navigate through the links based on your own
interest and inquiry. 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.
We would like to know if you are using the
Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, RocketModeler, FoilSim, EngineSim,
Range Applet, or Baseball Applet, in your classroom. Follow
the Link above and include your school name, e-mail address
and which of the above you are using.
NOTICE --- The site has recently been modified
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)
graphical page and have provided a separate (compliant) text
only page which contains all of the information of the original
page. The two pages are connected through hyperlinks.
- Beginner's Guide
to Aerodynamics
- Beginner's Guide
to Propulsion
- Beginner's Guide
to Model Rockets
- Beginner's Guide
to Kites
- Beginner's Guide
to Aeronautics
Back to top
Go to...
- Beginner's Guide
Home Page
byTom
Benson
Please send suggestions/corrections to: benson@grc.nasa.gov
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