Aeronautics and the Bernoulli Effect
6 th -8 th Grade Science Module Overview
Topic: The Bernoulli Effect
Grade Level: 6th-8th
Course: Exploring Technology
Time Allotted for Module: 13 days
Prior Knowledge: Students should be familiar with Newton’s Laws.
Overview
Through a series of demonstrations, experiments, and projects, students will gain an understanding of
Bernoulli’s Principle and its application in a wide variety of technologies, from airplanes and helicopters
to aspirators. Students will investigate how Bernoulli’s principle is found in a wide variety of everyday
applications and phenomena, such as the design of golf balls, why curve balls curve, and why roofs are
blown off houses in windstorms. Students will first be given the opportunity to master the concept
before introducing flight, the most difficult of common examples to understand.
The overall lesson plan begins with engaging students in the phenomenon using common materials.
Students will be asked to observe, predict, and hypothesize. Once comfortable with the principle,
students will extend their knowledge by conducting an experiment in another fluid medium. The lesson
then progresses to students understanding and applying how Bernoulli’s Principle can be applied to
flight. Students then learn about the four forces on an airplane, counter explanations to Bernoulli’s
explanation of lift, and then progress on to applying their understanding of flight and the four forces by
building and testing a balsa glider. Students can then evaluate their understanding of flight and make
corrections.
Vocabulary
Aileron: A hinged flap on the trailing edge of an aircraft wing used to control rolling the aircraft
Angle of Attack: The angle between the chord of the wing and the relative wind
Angle of Incidence: The fixed angle at which the wing is attached to the fuselage; the angle between
the chord line and the longitudinal axis
Bernoulli’s Principle: The faster a fluid moves, the less pressure is exerted. As velocity increases
pressure decreases.
Chord Line: An imaginary line from the leading edge to the trailing edge of an airfoil
Drag: The resistance of the airplane to forward motion directly opposed to thrust caused by the air flow
against the frontal surface
Elevator: A hinged flap used to control an aircraft’s up and down movement or attitude
Force: A push or pull on an object
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Fluid: A property of both liquids and gases that indicates how these states of matter move
Gas: One state of matter where molecules move quickly in random motion. A gas may have fluid motion
but is NOT a liquid.
Gravitational Force: The attraction exerted between any two objects that have mass; the force
exerted by the Earth on objects with mass
Lift: The upward force created by the wings moving through the air, which sustains the airplane in flight
Liquid: One state of matter where molecules take the shape of the container they are in. Liquids may
have fluid motion but are not gases.
Pressure: The force acting on a surface divided by the area over which it acts
Relative Wind: Movement-generated wind that’s equal and opposite to the motion of the airplane
Rudder: A surface that pivots vertically and controls left to right movement of the nose of an aircraft,
called yawing
Thrust: The force exerted by the engine and its propeller(s), which pushes air backward with the object
of causing a reaction, or thrust, of the airplane in the forward direction
Weight: The downward force due to the weight (gravity) of the airplane and its load, directly opposed
to lift
General Resources
NASA Aeronautics Resources
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/aerores.htm
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Materials
DAY 1
Ping Pong balls
Hair dyer
Strips of paper (1” x 10”)
String
Thread
Wooden spools
Index cards, lightweight but firm
Straight pins
Empty soda cans or water bottles
DAY 2
Straws
Ping Pong balls
Funnel
Hair dyer
Empty soda cans or water bottles
Soda bottles, wads of paper
Tall clear glass or beaker
Hard-boiled egg
DAY 3
PVC pipe – 4 pieces of PVC pipe (2 – 36”, 2 –
18”) 4 elbows
Fishing line – any weight will do
Rubber bands (4 per frame)
Straws (cut into pieces)
Scissors
Paper 8 x 10 – to make airfoil
Tape
Hair dryer
Balloons
Drinking straws
DAY 4
An assortment of balloons of different shapes
Fishing line
Drinking straws
Tape
Measuring tapes
DAY 5
Frisbees
Measuring tapes
Paper
Pencils
DAY 6
File card - to make plane parts
Pencils – fuselage
Tape
Scissors
Markers
Right Flight pattern – in NASA Aeronautics: an
Educator’s Guide
Styrofoam trays – size 12
Delta Wing Glider pattern found in NASA
Aeronautics: an Educator’s Guide
Toothpicks
Paper clips
Emery boards or sandpaper
DAY 7-8
8 x 10 paper
Paper clips
Tape
Samples of paper airplane
Paper airplane resource books
DAY 9-13
Tech Glider System Class Pack (W57467) Pitsco
$78 per set for 24 students
Tech Glider Consumables Pack (W57468) Pitsco
$60 per set for 24 students
Replacement kit (no teacher manual, contains
only building supplies)
Tech Glider Catapult Kit (W57466) $21.95
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Science Standards
Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
SC.8.N1.1 Define a problem from the eighth grade curriculum using appropriate reference materials
to support scientific understanding, plan and carry out scientific investigations of various
types, such as systematic observations or experiments, identify variables, collect and
organize data, interpret data in charts, tables, and graphics, analyze information, make
predictions, and defend conclusions.
SC.8.N.1.2
Design and conduct a study using repeated trials and replication.
SC.8.N.1.6
Understand that scientific investigations involve the collection of relevant empirical
evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and the application of imagination in devising
hypotheses, predictions, explanations and models to make sense of the collected evidence.
Big Idea 2: The Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge
Big Idea 3: The Role of Theories, Laws, Hypotheses, and Models
Big idea 8: Properties of Matter
SC.8.P.8.2 Differentiate between weight and mass recognizing that weight is the amount of
gravitational pull on an object and is distinct from, though proportional to, mass.
Big Idea 11: Energy Transfer and Transformations
SC.6.P.11.1 Explore the Law of Conservation of Energy by differentiating between potential and kinetic
energy. Identify situations where kinetic energy is transformed into potential energy and
vice versa.
Big Idea 12: Motion of Objects
SC.6.P.12.1 Measure and graph distance versus time for an object moving at a constant speed.
Interpret this relationship.
Big Idea 13: Forces and Changes in Motion
SC.6.P.13.3 Investigate and describe that an unbalanced force acting on an object changes its speed, or
direction of motion, or both.
Math Standards
Big Idea 1: Linear functions & equations
Analyze and represent linear functions and solve linear equations and systems of linear equations.
MA.8.A.1.1 Create and interpret tables, graphs, and models to represent, analyze, and solve problems
related to linear equations, including analysis of domain, range, and the difference
between discrete and continuous data.
MA.8.A.1.3 Use tables, graphs, and models to represent, analyze, and solve real-world problems
related to systems of linear equations.
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Big Idea 3: Analyze and summarize data sets.
MA.8.S.3.1 Select, organize and construct appropriate data displays, including box and whisker plots,
scatter plots, and lines of best fit to convey information and make conjectures about
possible relationships.
References
10 Paper Airplanes
http://www.10paperairplanes.com/
Bernoulli's Principle at Work.pdf
http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/D_Lab/activities/bernoulli.html
Bernoulli’s Principle Lab.pdf
http://www.acgilbert.org/Toys/media/Day10.pdf
Bernoulli vs. Newton
http://www.bsu.edu/academy/webwings/index2.html
Elevator.pdf
http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/elv.html
Experiments to test Bernoulli.pdf
http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/Problem_Board/problems/flight/lift2.html
Four Forces on Kite.pdf
http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/kitefor.html
Four Forces on Plane.pdf
http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/forces.html
Fun Paper Airplanes
http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/Plane%20Downloads.html
How an airplane flies level3.pdf
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/airflylvl3.htm
NASA AERONAUTICS_ an Educator’s Guide.pdf
http://spacelink.nasa.gov/products
Parts of an airplane.pdf
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/fltmidparts.htm
Paper Airplane Activity.pdf
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/aerosim/LessonHS97/paperairplaneac.html
Tech Glider System Class Pack Manual
40-page teacher’s manual included with kits
Wings on a String.pdf (Paper Flyers)
http://www.eaa.org/chapters/resources/cookbook/activities/elementary/PAPER%20FLYERS.pdf
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