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Wings of Madness
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Classroom Activity
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Activity Summary
Students experiment with a paper airplane model to determine how various wing
angles affect flight characteristics.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
recognize and use terminology associated with the design of airplane wings. understand, follow, and repeat a sequence of instructions to produce an airplane model. determine the cause-and-effect relationship between a wing's shape and its flight characteristics.
- copy of the "Winging It" student handout
(PDF or
HTML)
- copy of the "Airplane Template" student handout
(PDF or
HTML)
- 4 sheets of 20# typing paper, 21.5 cm x 28 cm
- 2 gum erasers
- 1 ruler
Background
Albert Santos-Dumont was born in 1873 into a wealthy Brazilian family in São
Paolo. Inheriting the family fortune, he was educated in France and lived in
Paris, where he rubbed shoulders with Parisian high society. He became
interested in aeronautics at an early age. He began his experiments with
balloons, making his first ascent in 1897. In 1898 he added a gasoline engine
and propeller to an elongated balloon of his own design, the first application
of this new form. He flew the craft successfully for the first time in 1898.
Santos created a sensation in 1901 when he flew his sixth design through a
prescribed course, around the Eiffel Tower and back in 30 minutes, winning the
Deutsch Prize of 100,000 francs, more than $20,000 in today's currency. After
this feat and several international tours, he turned his attention to
heavier-than-air craft, creating the #14bis in 1906 and the
Demoiselle (his last aircraft) in 1908. Stricken in 1910 with what would
be posthumously diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, Santos withdrew from
aeronautics and took up astronomy.
During World War I Santos was falsely suspected of being a German spy. In
disgust, he burned all of his papers. As the severity of his disease
progressed, he grew increasingly despondent over the use of aircraft as weapons
of war. In 1931, his family brought the emotionally frail Santos back to
Brazil. He hanged himself in São Paolo on July 23, 1932. He is buried in Rio de
Janeiro.
In this activity, students to perform tests to determine how various wing
angles affect flight characteristics.
Key Terms
dihedral: the upward or downward inclination of an aircraft wing from
true horizontal.
lateral: acting or moving to the side, or at a 900 angle to
an object.
oscillation: the rhythmic pattern of pitch change (the up or down
movement) of the nose of an aircraft.
pitch: an up or down movement of the nose of an aircraft.
roll: an up or down movement of the wings of an aircraft.
stall: a sudden loss of lift that occurs when the airflow over the wings
is disrupted or lost because the angle of attack (the angle of the wings to the
airflow) is too high; as a result, the plane enters into a downward dive.
yaw: movement of the nose of the aircraft from side to side.
Identify a testing area for the students to use during the activity, such as
a school gymnasium or hallway. Introduce the following key terms that will help
students create their aircraft and record data about its behavior: dihedral,
roll, lateral, oscillation, pitch, stall, and yaw (see Key Terms on page 2 for
definitions).
Organize the class into teams and distribute the materials to each team.
Review the handout with students.
Instruct each team to create a set of four models using the design template.
Demonstrate how to fold the wings for each model, using the gum eraser as the
guides for the angles of the dihedral in models 2-4. (Gum erasers come in small
and large sizes, but both have at least one dimension that is 2.5 centimeters,
which is what the height should be between the end of the wing tip and the
table.) Once students fold the wings upward, the airplane should sit level on
the tabletop between the two erasers.
Prior to having students test their models, review launching techniques.
Demonstrate how to hold and to launch the models from the launching system
using a gentle, horizontal push. Emphasize the importance of uniform
launching. Encourage teams to share their observations and ideas on how to best
launch their models, taking into consideration which areas of the room might
have any wind currents. Have students practice launching their models before
recording data to determine the best launch method.
Have teams test their models at the four angles listed on the student
handout and complete at least ten trials at each angle.
Reconvene
the class to discuss each team's findings. Ask teams to share how their models
behaved in flight. Make a chart on the board and have teams describe and record
each of the models' behaviors. Was there a difference due to the dihedral wing
angle and placement? Determine the differences in behavior of the model types.
Which model was able to sustain the smoothest flight? Why might some teams have
gotten different results with the same planes as others?
As an extension, have students conduct research to identify some other key
players who contributed to the development of reliable aircraft. Create a list
of at least five aviation pioneers who contributed to flight prior to the First
World War (1914-1918). What characteristics did these pioneers share that made
them successful in their efforts?
Aircrafts with a dihedral design have a slight angle to their wings that goes
upward from where the wing attaches to the body outwards toward the tip. This
design is used to improve lateral stability. If one wing begins to drop, the
airplane will begin to sideslip in the direction of the dropping wing.
Because of the dihedral angle of the wings, the relative wind (created by
movement of an airfoil through the air) will strike the lower wing at a greater
angle of attack than the upper wing, producing more lift in the lower wing and
helping return the aircraft to a stable lateral position.
The folds at the front of the wing on student models provide a well-defined
leading edge and concentration of mass for the paper, causing the airplane to
fall forward and to create a basic airfoil shape that generates the lift along
the upper surface of the paper. Santos used the dihedral concept in the main
wing of the #14bis. This design provided stability to his plane as it
moved through the air, as the shape (at a low angle) resists roll, one of the
three main forces acting on any aircraft.
As students experiment with their models, they will find that the models do not
fly exactly the same way each time they are launched. This is common with an
ultralight aircraft (a lightweight recreational aircraft), especially in areas
where wind currents can be unpredictable. The activity is designed with ten
trials for each model so students can observe the generalized flight
characteristics of the models.
Adding dihedral to a wing increases its lateral (roll) stability. However, as
dihedral increases, lift is lost as the wing's angle of attack decreases. The
dihedral of a wing should be enough to steady the plane and yet not so much as
to reduce the lift capacity. In the model where the dihedral angle is high
(model 4), the wing remains somewhat stable because the dihedral does not make
up the entire length of the wing.
Student Handout Questions
Describe the behavior of your team's models at each angle you tested.
Answers will vary. What are some variables that affect the flight behavior of the plane?
Some variables include wing angles, wind currents, and differences in how
the planes are launched. Compare the flight stability of the different angles you chose to test. At
which wing angle(s) was the flight most stable? At which
angle(s) does the plane fail to fly well? What may be the reason? Models 2
and 3 will fly the best; model 1 will not fly as well because there is no
dihedral angle, while model 4 will not fly well because the dihedral angle is
too high. What may be causing any wind currents in the room? What effect may these
currents have on the models? The movement of students in and around each
other in a gym or hallway will stir wind currents that may not be perceptible
to the students but which readily affect the flight characteristics of the
models. How can the effect of wind currents be determined in the launching area?
Test where no one else is testing, where there are no currents; then test
where many students are testing, where there is a lot of air circulating.
Observe how wind currents impact flight.
Web Sites
NOVA—Wings of Madness
www.pbs.org/nova/santos/
Read Santos's own account of his first balloon ascent, learn of his efforts
to devise a compact personal aircraft, see a slide show of the
Demoiselle, and view other influential planes of Santos's era.
Alberto Santos-Dumont
www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=428
Profiles the life of this early aviation pioneer.
Highlights in Aviation: Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazil
www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/
impacto/graphic/aviation/alberto.html
Outlines Santos's contributions as a pivotal innovator in the history of
flight.
Books
Man
Flies: The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont, Master of the Balloon
by Nancy Winters. Ecco Press, 1998.
Tells the story of how wealthy Brazilian heir Santos became interested
in, and then abandoned, the development of human flight.
My Airships: The Story of My Life
by
Alberto Santos-Dumont. Dover Publications, Inc., 1973.
Explains, in Santos's own words, his work with balloons and dirigibles.
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight
by
Paul Hoffman. Hyperion, 2003.
Chronicles Santos's triumphs, his brief decade of world fame, and his descent
into despair.
The "Winging It"" activity aligns with the following National
Science Education Standards (see
books.nap.edu/html/nses).
Grades 5-8
Science Standard B
Physical Science
Motions and forces
Classroom Activity Author
A
teacher for 34 years, Steven Branting serves as a consultant for gifted and
innovative programs in the Lewiston, Idaho, public schools and is a
cartographer for the Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project. Branting and his
students have won international honors in physics, engineering and digital
mapping.
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