BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 109: (a) How Things Fly

DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 109: (a) How Things Fly:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GAL109_150824_08.JPG: * What makes an airplane fly? * How does a spacecraft stay in orbit? * Why does a balloon float in the air? * What are you waiting for? Come inside and find out! On your way in... Learn about the four forces that affect things that fly: * Lift: Lift is the force that acts at a right angle to the direction of motion through the air. Lift is created by differences in air pressure. * Drag: Drag is the force that acts opposite to the direction of motion. Drag is caused by friction and differences in air pressure. * Weight: Weight is the force of gravity. It acts in a downward direction -- toward the center of the Earth. * Thrust: Thrust is the force that propels a flying machine in the direction of motion. Engines produce thrust.
2. GAL109_150824_11.JPG: We Just Aren't Built to Fly So instead we've created machines to do what we alone cannot. In order to fly... * You need to overcome your own weight -- that is, the force of gravity. * To overcome gravity, you need to create an upward force called lift. That's what an airplane's wings are for. * To create lift, you need forward motion. That's what an airplane's engines are for -- they produce a force called thrust. * To keep moving, you need to overcome the resistance of the air -- a force called drag. An airplane's engines do that too. Now You're Flying! There are other ways to fly besides using airplanes -- we'll get to those a little later.
3. GAL109_150824_14.JPG: Lift is the force that acts at a right angle to the direction of motion through the air. LIFT is created by differences in air pressure.
4. GAL109_150824_17.JPG: Weight is the force of GRAVITY. It acts in a downward direction -- toward the center of the Earth.
5. GAL109_150824_22.JPG: Drag is the force that acts opposite to the direction of motion. DRAG is caused by friction and differences in air pressure.
6. GAL109_150824_25.JPG: Thrust is the force that propels a flying machine in the direction of motion. Engines produce THRUST.
7. GAL109_150824_30.JPG: What is Buoyancy? All liquids and gases in the presence of gravity exert an upward force -- called buoyancy -- on any object immersed in them. If the object is less dense than the liquid or gas, buoyancy will make it float. A cork floats in water because it is less dense than a cork-size volume of water. But it won't flat in air since it is denser than the same volume of air. Our balloon can float in the air because it is filled with helium, a gas seven times less dense than air. The balloon and helium together weight less than an equal volume of air, so the balloon rises. If you add weight to it, the balloon sinks. If you add only enough to balance the force of buoyancy, the balloon will float in mid-air.
8. GAL109_150824_67.JPG: Rotating due to centrifugal force
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Description of Subject Matter: How Things Fly
September 20, 1996 – March 13, 2020
This interactive gallery explains the basic principles of air and space flight through hands-on activities. The gallery features a Cessna 150, a section of a Boeing 757 fuselage, a model of the International Space Station, and more than 50 interactives. The exhibition is divided into 7 sections:
* The Basics: Gravity and Air demonstrates the properties of gravity and air with a barometer that slides from floor to ceiling and an 11-foot, radio-controlled blimp overhead.
* Winging It uses a series of wind tunnels to demonstrate the forces of lift that lift an aircraft off the ground. "Explainers" are on hand to perform demonstrations.
* Faster Than Sound: High-Speed Flight demonstrates how aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound through the use of a supersonic wind tunnel.
* Getting Aloft: Thrust explores propellers, jets, and rockets that provide thrust, the forward motion needed to sustain lift and counter drag.
* Gravity and No Air: Flight in Space uses computer interactives and a "gravity well" to demonstrate how a spacecraft in orbit is affected by gravity.
* Staying Aloft: Stability and Control explains "attitude" (orientation) using a rotating platform, a model Cessna 150 in an airstream, and a real Cessna 150 with operable rudder, ailerons, and elevator.
* The Makings of a Flying Machine: Structure and Materials explains how materials and structure shape the way air and space craft look and perform, explores the advantages and disadvantages of different materials used, and includes a cut-away Cessna 150.
An amphitheater-style area features "Explainers" performing demonstrations. "Forces of Flight" demonstrations, paper airplane contests, "Air and Space Touchables" demonstrations, and videos rotate throughout the day.
A Visitor Resource Center is filled with science activities, video programs, interactive computer programs, children's literature, and other reference materials related to fl ...More...
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 109: (a) How Things Fly) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2012_DC_SIAIR_Gall109A: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 109: (a) How Things Fly (2 photos from 2012)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(Smithsonian) Air and Space Museum (Everything)] [(Smithsonian) Air and Space Museum (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)]
2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha! Trips this year: a quick trip to Florida. two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles). Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post. Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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