Up?
A look at all (or at least some) things that fly
Lesson 3 – Lift With Your Lips?
Stephanie Stevens
Grade 7
50 minutes
Objectives
1. The student will demonstrate Bernoulli’s Principle as it relates to one of the
forces of flight.
2. The student will correlate the relationship between lift and weight in flight.
Engage 5 minutes
Arrange to have a computer and projector available from the IT person in the school.
Look for and book mark the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YHqCkCJbWQ. Have students watch the 2 minute
video demonstrating Bernoulli’s Principle. Following the video, inform the students that
they will be demonstrating Bernoulli’s Principle themselves in several ways.
Explore 30 minutes
Materials needed:
 Copy paper cut into 1-inch strips width wise (one per student)
 3” funnel (4 required)
 Ping Pong balls (16 required)
 Hair dryer with “cool” setting (2-4 required)
 String cut into four 24-inch long pieces
 3” tapestry needle
 Straws (one per student)
 Science journals
 Colored pencils
Procedure:
 Prior to class, the teacher will create stations around the room.
o Station 1—Bernoulli Strips
 Place table tent and strips of paper on table.
o Station 2—Funnel Fun
 Place table tent, straws, and equal numbers of funnels and ping
pong balls on table.
o Station 3—Invisible Hand
 Near an outlet or power strip, place table tent and equal number of
hair dryers and ping pong balls on table.
o Station 4—Powers of Attraction
 Place table tent, straws, and ping pong balls on strings on table.
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To make ping pong balls on strings, thread string through
tapestry needle and pierce a ping pong ball all the way
through. Tie a knot on each end of the string as near to the
ball as possible. Repeat for three more balls.
Assemble students into groups of no more than 4 (the teacher will decide who
group members are according based on cooperative learning).
Have students rotate around the room going from station to station in their
assigned groups. The directions for each station will be on the table tents, but it
is best if the teacher circulates around the room to assist students if necessary.
NOTE: The students are to use the straws to blow at each station it is required.
If a group is not at a station, they are to be writing in their journals about what the
Bernoulli Principle is and how they interpret it. They may make sketches of what
they have discovered about the Bernoulli Principle as well.
Station 1—Bernoulli Strips
o Students are first challenged to make the paper rise without blowing on
the bottom. The text inside the table tent reads:
 Hold paper strip between forefinger and thumb.
 Place under your bottom lip.
 Blow gently, but consistently across the top surface of the paper
strip.
 The paper should begin to rise as the speed of the air above the
strip increases. This allows for lower pressure to be applied to the
top of the paper and for lift to occur.
Station2—Funnel Fun
o Students are challenged to make the ping pong ball come out of the funnel
while keeping the funnel upright. The text inside the table tent reads:
 Hold funnel upright and place ping pong ball inside.
 Using your straw, blow across the top of the funnel. With enough
air being blown through the straw, the ping pong ball should “pop”
up and out of the funnel. The air pressure above the ball is lower
than the air pressure coming from below and lift is achieved.
Station 3—Invisible Hand
o Students will have seen the video demonstration of the Bernoulli Principle
earlier in the lesson, now they must try to duplicate the same action. The
text inside the table tent reads:
 Hold hair dryer in one hand so it is pointing straight up and a ping
pong ball in the other.
 Turn the hair dryer on to the coolest setting and hold the ping pong
ball in the stream of air. Once the ball is “floating,” try to turn the
hair dryer so it is facing sideways.
 Questions to consider
 How far can you go before the ball falls?
 Does the speed of airflow have an effect on whether or not the
ball “floats?”
Station 4—Powers of Attraction
o Students will be challenged to make the two ping pong balls come into
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contact with each other without touching them. The text of the table tent
reads:
 Have a partner hold two ping pong balls approximately six-inches
apart.
 Using your straw, blow directly in the middle of the balls. They air
in between the balls will be moving faster than the air on the sides.
This causes the balls to get “pushed” together.
Explain 10 minutes
As the students complete their rounds of the stations, they should return to their
desks. The straws should be thrown in the trash but the students may keep the
Bernoulli Strips. Have students stack the materials for each station neatly on the tables
of each station. I will give them a few minutes to write anything they need to in their
science journals pertaining to the stations. Ask the students what they discovered of
significance about the Bernoulli Principle. Some examples could include:
 The Bernoulli Principle is in effect both horizontally and vertically (Stations 3 & 4)
 The speed of the air moving across the surface of the ping pong ball in the funnel
is greater than the speed of the air moving across the surface of the paper strip
(it takes more effort to remove the ball from the funnel than to lift the paper).
 You can change the direction of the air flow while applying the Bernoulli Principle
(Station 3).
It is also important to make the correlation between lift and weight with relation to
flight. In flight there are four forces at work, thrust, lift, weight, and drag. Thrust and lift
are positive forces, while weight and drag are negative forces. Thrust overcomes drag
and lift overcomes weight in order to achieve the forward and upward motion of flight. It
may be best to explain this using a diagram on the board such as this:
Image courtesy of Yes I Can! Science
www.yesican-science.ca
The room will be set up with four stations along the outer edges of the room. The
tables/desks for the students will be set up in the middle of the room, all facing the
screen, so all of the students can see the video. As the teacher, I will act as a guide
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through the stations, but not an active participant. Unless it is a question of procedure,
if the students ask questions, I will ask leading questions for them to ponder. As stated
earlier, the teacher will select the group members. I will choose groups according to
past experiences and cooperative learning. Students who are likely to get off track will
not be placed together and students who are not good at sharing responsibility or
materials will not be put with more submissive students.
Elaborate 10 minutes
These questions may be written on the board for the students to write out and
answer for the next class session, or if there is time, they may be discussed in class.
Consider the following (questions courtesy of “Yes I Can! Science” www.yesicansicence.ca)
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Which two forces are "provided by nature" and which two forces must we provide
in order to allow flight to occur? Nature provides weight and drag (air friction).
These two forces are ubiquitous in nature. In order to have flight we must have
the technical means to provide thrust (to overcome drag) and lift (to overcome
weight).
List and explain two ways one might reduce drag. Drag is related to friction but is
slightly more complex. Its effect, however, is identical to friction. Drag opposes
the motion of an object as it moves through a fluid (liquid or gas). The most
important factors that affect drag on an airplane are:
1. the frontal shape of the object
2. the frontal area of the object
3. the speed of the object through the air
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List and explain two ways in which we might reduce weight. In the early days of
flight extensive use of fabric and wire were used as an effective method of
reducing weight. The concept of using wires under tension, as a method of
creating extremely strong and very light designs, was borrowed from the bicycle
industry. Fabrics, usually canvas, proved to be both light and rugged. Canvas
could be painted to make it water proof. It was also easily repaired if it were to
become ripped or punctured. The combination of wire and fabric proved to be the
ideal combination for building strong rugged and very light aircraft. Modern
designs: As aircraft engines became more powerful and air speeds increased,
the wire and fabric designs proved to be too fragile. Today, extensive weight
reduction is achieved by using special metal alloys, super strong hollow tubing,
and special "hole-drilled" beams and struts.
List and explain two ways in which you might increase lift. An aircraft gets its lift
from the shape of its wing(s). As air is forced over the upper surface of the wing
its velocity increases, causing the pressure against the upper surface of the wing
to decrease. The underside of the wing experiences a pressure greater than the
upper surface. This pressure difference causes the phenomena we call lift.
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Evaluate
The best evaluation that I will be able to make for this lesson is very informal. As I
am circulating around the room, I will make note of how the students are doing at each
station, whether they understand the directions, are using the materials properly, and if
they are making connections between Bernoulli’s Principle and the role it plays in flying.
At the end of the class session, I would encourage all students to participate in the
discussion.
Exceptionality
For students with learning disabilities, the lesson plan can be modified as necessary
to include more visual cues about the Bernoulli Principle such as handouts and videos.
There was one in particular that demonstrated the Bernoulli Principle in a fun and
entertaining way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olVJzVadiFs
For students who are underachievers, smaller group sizes will allow for the student
to fully participate in the activities at the stations. At most of the stations, there will be
adequate supplies for each student to participate simultaneously with the group.
For students with ADHD, the lesson is designed to be constantly active. With the
exception of the discussion at the end of the lesson, the students will not be required to
be seated for more than 20 minutes at a time. This should allow for a student with
ADHD to stay on task and participate in the lesson.
For gifted students, the lesson plan could challenge them to find evidence of the
Bernoulli Principle in use in other things such as bicycling. They could also be asked to
seek out and learn more about the Bernoulli Equation. There was an interesting
webpage that explained the Bernoulli Equation that was part of Bicycle Aerodynamics
http://www.efluids.com/efluids/pages/bicycle.htm.
Esearch
www.yesican-science.ca
The focus of this lesson is on lift and this website offers good information on what it
takes to fly. There are assessment rubrics and diagrams that aid in explaining the
Bernoulli Principle as well as lessons in Aerodynamics, Flight, and instructions on how
to build a pizza box glider. Students can go on the website and do the two activities
under the Aerodynamics link. Both activities reinforce what has been covered thus far.
http://home.earthlink.net/~mmc1919/venturi.html
This website offers interactive animations that help to visually explain the Bernoulli
Principle. It was developed by a physicist and software developer named Mark Mitchell.
There are several links on the page that allow students to learn more about how the
Bernoulli Principle is in unexpected places like baseball.
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