History of Airplanes

               Have you rode in an airplane before? Well, if you did, then do you know how they work? Maybe you don’t know. But don’t worry because I will tell you the history of airplanes and how they work. I had many choices for doing my IB project but I decided to do my project on Airplanes because the rest of the topics that I choose were the ones that I already know at least something but this topic I didn’t know anything and I was interested in doing this topic and I would learn something that I did not know. Thousands of years ago flight architects wanted to create flights but they couldn’t.

             In 1670 an Italian monk, Francesco de Lana made a vacuum balloon which couldn’t fly. Some people tied feathers to their arm and tried to fly by flapping their feathers like birds do. Later, after many years they tried to fly in large kites and people thought they will fly or float in the air but their attempts failed (World Book pg.229, A.1). The first human flight was built by Montgolfier brothers and Jacques Etienne in 1783 in France. What they made was a balloon filled with hot air, which took 2 passengers at a time for 5 miles 8 kilometers across Paris. It rose up to 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) (World Book pg.229, A.1). Airplanes are affected by three basic forces; Gravity, Lift, and Thrust. In order to land a flight, landing must be done permitting to the government’s regulation to land the flight. If the airport is big with a traffic control tower, the captain must get the signal for a clear landing, unless it’s an emergency. The captain should fly the flight over an airport about 1,500 feet high (457 meters) to conclude the wind direction and which way is the right way to go. An airplane cruising level has lift which balances gravity and thrust balances drag. Lift and drag are considered as “Aerodynamic forces because they occur due to the movement of the airplane through the air (WOLTERS).”  

      Gravity is the natural force that pulls a plane near the ground. Gravity rises to keep an airplane off the ground or to fly it to the earth. The force of gravity on the earth is equivalent to the weight of planes on the land. If a plane needs to take off or to take off, its arms must form a lifting strength better than the downward force of gravity. When the lifting force is higher than the force of gravity, the plane can take off. Another name for gravity is weight. In order for a plane to fly the center of gravity must be in positive limits with connection to the center of lift (Airplanes).   

        Lift is an upward force that balances the airplane’s weight. Air density, wing size, airspeed, outline shape, airfoil shape, and the angle of attack increases the lift of a wing. Lift must be higher than weight so the airplane can become an airborne. Lift is always upright to the direction of a flight. The level of the lift depends on many factors as well as the shapes, sizes, and speed of the aircraft. Most of the lift is produced by the wings. Lift is formed by the plane’s wings as it moves through the air. Lift is created by a difference in the air’s force. Lift can be created only if the wing of a flight is moving forward in the air. When lift is generated, drag is created, and this acts in an opposite direction to the motion of an object. The faster the plane moves the greater it makes lift (Dalton).   

      Thrust opposes drag, makes the plane move forward, and is needed to move a plane forward. In a jet airplane the movement of gas produces thrust. Thrust is also created by birds flapping wings. If the thrust is strong it will overcome gravity and drag and it will make the plane fly (Drag works against thrust to slow the flight). While taking off, thrust must be higher than drag.”The direction of the trust force depends on how the engines are sticked to the aircraft” (Forces on airplanes). Lift must be higher than weight so the airplane can become an airborne. To land the flight thrust must be lower than drag and lift must be lower than weight (Airplane).