How Do
Airplanes Fly?
by C.Y.
Stewart
September
22, 2000
Looks like MAGIC, but
it's the Bernoulli Principle!
Where in the World is Daniel Bernoulli?
This is a fun board game suitable for the
entire family or a classroom of any age (younger kids are able to understand
and do most of this with adequate patience and assistance from adults or older
kids). This game rewards players with the chance to perform wild,
gravity-defying experiments that teach the principles of flight and lift.
To make the game board, I cut a large,
rectangular section of cardboard from an appliance box, which you can easily
obtain from any major retailer if you call ahead and ask them to save one for
you. I have found that furniture/appliance rental stores usually have
plenty of boxes in their dumpsters or will save them for me when I call in
advance.
I covered the cardboard with world map
wrapping paper, brushing white glue across the entire surface of the cardboard
and carefully smoothing the paper out. After it dried, I used a permanent
marker and ruler to draw the game board based on the template (Page 5 of 5 link
below).
In part, the Bernoulli Principle is that
faster-moving air weighs less than slower-moving air. By forcing the air
above the wings of an aircraft to move faster than the air moving under the
wings, you create pressure under the wings unequal to the pressure above the
wings, causing lift. This is achieved by the shape of the wing, having
more surface area on top than on bottom. (If you're totally confused now,
don't worry. The game doesn't try to explain all of this, it simply gives
kids an exciting and fun way of discovering the Bernoulli Principle in
action. It introduces them to the physics of flight.)
Here are the links to the instruction pages
for how to make and play the game, along with the templates for the game
board and cards. These are JPEG image files uploaded at
www.geocities.com/grace7x70/bernoulli*.jpg:
Page 1 of 6 -
Teaching/Making Instructions
Page 2 of 6 -
Experiment Cards 1-3
Page 3 of 6 -
Experiment Cards 4-6
Page 4 of 6 -
Experiment Cards 7-9
Page 5 of 6 - Board
Template
Page 6 of 6 - Game
Intro & Rules
Note: Please excuse the poor quality
of these copies -- they are legible, but as you'll see, somewhat sloppy.
These were copies of copies shared by an educator at the U.S. Space
Foundation's class on Space & Flight Basics. I do not know where the
originals came from.
If you have any questions or difficulties,
please contact the author via email (grace7x70@hotmail.com). I will be
happy to help you successfully make and play this game.