SUBJECTS: Technologies
YEARS: 3–4
A modern jet aeroplane is big and heavy, so how does it fly?
In this clip we explain how the wing shape helps a plane to take off and fly.
Also see how a plane's jet engine works. Is it all a load of hot air?
Things to think about
- 1.How does a plane get off the ground and fly? What parts of the design help it fly? To help them fly, some planes have a propeller powered by an engine. What do planes without engines use to fly?
- 2.What shape are the wings of an aeroplane? Note how the air passes over the wing. The wing shape makes a force push up on the wings. What does this force do to the plane? Where does a plane's energy come from? In a plane's jet engine, what is forced out the rear of the engine? How does this make the plane move?
- 3.Draw a diagram of a plane's wing shape. Show how the air flows over the wing and helps it fly. Explain how a jet engine works to move the aircraft forwards. Design a glider using stiff card. What wing shape will the glider need to help it fly? What shape will you make the body to make it aerodynamic (able to cut through the air)?
- 4.Find some stiff card. Investigate making a glider (a plane without a power source) out of card. Ask an adult to help you cut it. Try making the body streamlined and stiff. Make the wings out of card that can be shaped. Think about how to make the aerofoil-shaped wings. Can you get your glider to fly?
Acknowledgements
Music by Glyn Lehmann.
Date of broadcast: 14 May 2001
Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).