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In the 21st century, airplanes are a normal part of everyday life. We see them fly over, or read about them, or see them on television. Most of us have traveled on an airplane, or we know someone who has. Do you ever wonder how airplanes fly? What causes the lift that gets the airplane off the runway? How does a pilot control the movement of the airplane? Why are the engines on an airliner different from the engines on a fighter plane? How does aerodynamics affect the flight of a model rocket or a kite? The information at this site is provided by the NASA Glenn Educational Programs Office (EPO) to give you a better understanding of how aircraft work. Much of the material was originially developed for the Learning Technologies Project (LTP). Each page at this site describes a single topic related to basic airplane aerodynamics, propulsion, rockets, or kites. At the top of each page is a slide that illustrates the topic. The slide is accompanied by a caption that explains what the slide is all about and goes into some detail about the physics and math related to the subject of the slide. There are links and references to other slides and sites where you can find additional information.

Disciplines:

• Education  / TeacherEd  / Teaching Methods  / Mathematics

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