Forces of flightTHE FORCES OF FLIGHT BY: SELORM

DragDrag is one of the four forces of flight. Drag is a force of flight that slows down your acceleration. When there is too much drag, objects will not succeed in flying.

Planes use drag for landing.

Too much drag slows a plane down.

Drag is the opposite of thrust.

Imagine you are cruising around in car. Then, you hold on to a piece of paper and you stick your hand out the window. The force pushing against your hand is drag.

Thrust

Thrust is another force of flight. Thrust is the force of flight that helps flying objects speed up.

Thrust is the opposite of drag.

When you pull back a toy car(for some toy cars)It starts up its “engine” and that creates thrust.

Lift

Lift is another force of flight that lifts a plane up.

Lift is the opposite of weight/gravity.

When a plane goes up, there is more lift than weight.

When planes are ready to take off, there needs to be more lift than gravity.

When a plane is level in the air, there is lift and weight.

The shape of a plane wings (airfoil) helps a plane with lift. The top of the wing is curved. The bottom of the wing is flat. The top of the wing has low air pressure. The bottom has high air pressure.

Imagine you are on a plane ready to take off. To take off, the plane needs lift. Lift is caused by the air pressure on the wings. There needs to be more lift than weight to take of. Wind speeds and thrust help lift to be able to fly. For example, if the wind is blowing at 15 knots, there is more lift than weight, and there is more thrust than drag, a plane will be able to take off successfully.

Weight/Gravity

Weight is another force of flight that pulls down a flying object.

Gravity is a force that keeps things from drifting away. The heavier an object is, the stronger its pull is on Earth.

The heavier a plane is, the more lift, and therefore more use of thrust, is required to make the plane fly.

The lighter a plane is, the less weight there is. Therefore, is would use less thrust, so the plane wouldn’t use as much fuel.

When you drop an egg from a high place, the force pulling it toward the ground is gravity.