August 27, 2021

Fly High!

Since we haven't travelled in an airplane since the pandemic began in early 2020, I was reminiscing as I was looking through my photo album. The miracle of flight is all thanks to the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, who invented the airplane in 1903.

Here are some fun photos I found of planes:

A WW2 plane on display at the Chicago Midway Airport.

A miniature model of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport with planes at Madurodam, a park in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Lego Airplanes from Legoland in Malaysia.

Planes on the runway at Changi Airport in Singapore.

Lift of an Airplane

As an airplane takes off and lifts into the air, it can be represented with the equation on the Fly High Card. Lift is an aerodynamic force that ensures an airplane can remain in the air. In the equation, L is lift, C_L is the lift coefficient, ρ is density, v is velocity and A is the wing area. This is the perfect card for the pilot, aerospace engineer or aviation enthusiast.

Besides lift, the other forces that are important for flight are thrust, drag, and weight. Thrust is the force that moves the airplane in a certain direction (e.g., moving forward). Drag is a frictional force that opposes the motion of the airplane (e.g., air resistance). Weight is the force of gravity from Earth. When an airplane is flying, the lift has to balance with the weight and to travel forward faster (accelerate), thrust has to be greater than drag.

So, do you call them airplanes or aeroplanes? Let me know in the comments below.