For each of the following tasks you will be creating and updating a Weebly page in order to track and

record your progress and findings. This Weebly page should contain daily updates, including short text descriptions, pictures, video, and experimental results. Each task should have its own page dedicated to documenting your progress with that task. As you proceed through these tasks, please keep in mind the concepts of manipulated variable, responding variable, and controlled variables. For each trial that you do, try to isolate only one variable that you manipulate. This way you can keep track of which changes produced what effects in your prototypes!! Remember that scientists love data. So a lot of times scientists will perform multiple trials in order to ensure that their results are replicable and that the results were not produced by some chance event. For each change you make, try to have three trials which you record data for. For your trials, data can be organized into a simple table such as this. Parachute Shape Round Rectangular Square Trial #1 Fall Time (s) 6.7 5.9 6.8 Trial #2 Fall Time (s) 6.8 6.1 7.0 Trial #3 Fall Time (s) 6.6 5.6 7.1

This keeps our data organized and it makes it easy to present to others. But the downside is that its hard to tell which shape gave us the best result, which is a longer fall time. So we could add a fifth column for average fall time!! Parachute Shape Trial #1 Fall Time (s) 6.7 Trial #2 Fall Time (s) 6.8 Trial #3 Fall Time (s) 6.6 Average Fall Time =(trial 1 + trial 2+ trial 3) / 3 = (6.7 + 6.8 + 6.6) / 3 6.7s = (5.9 + 6.1 + 5.6) / 3 5.87s

Round

Rectangular

5.9

6.1

5.6

Square

6.8

7.0

7.1

= (6.8 + 7.0 + 7.1) / 3 6.97s

For each of the following task descriptions, you must follow the scientific procedure and create your own write-up. These should be short and concise, but detailed. As such, each will require: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) A scientific question A hypothesis A list of materials A procedure Observations (in a table format such as above, and/or in paragraph form) A conclusion which answers the scientific question, provides possible sources of error, and makes suggestions for improving the experiment

For each task there may be several variables you want to investigate, which is great! Just make sure you do them one at a time and you use your time effectively so that the whole project gets done! In December of 1903 the Wright Brothers were credited with the first controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. Naturally, many other organisms have achieved this, which fascinated many scientists including the Wright Brothers. What arguably set the Wright Brothers apart was that they use a small, home built wind tunnel to test various models and collect data. This allowed them to design more efficient wings and propellers than their competition. We are going to play the part of the Wright Brothers and explore various aspects of flight. Throughout this unit, you will be exploring one fundamental questions: how can humans fly? Throughout this project we will be targeting the following objectives:

1. Conduct tests of a model parachute design, and identify design changes to improve the effectiveness of the design. 2. Describe the design of a hot-air balloon and the principles by which its rising and falling are controlled. 3. Conduct tests of glider designs; and modify a design so that a glider will go further, stay up longer or fly in a desired way; e.g., fly in a loop, turn to the right. 4. Recognize the importance of stability and control to aircraft flight; and design, construct and test control surfaces. 5. Apply appropriate vocabulary in referring to control surfaces and major components of an aircraft. This vocabulary should include: wing, fuselage, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, elevators, ailerons, rudder. 6. Construct and test propellers and other devices for propelling a model aircraft. 7. Describe differences in design between aircraft and spacecraft, and identify reasons for the design differences.

Your Weebly sites will be evaluated weekly by Mr. Loach, but also by your peers! Comments are enabled so I will be giving you feedback on what youve been doing, but so will your classmates! As a weekly requirement, you must comment on one part of each of your peers web pages. This is so that each group receives plenty of feedback about what they are doing and helps us learn by exposing ourselves to everyone elses projects and ideas! Please keep your comments kind but constructive. If you have an idea that might help your classmates, by all means post it!! Mr. Loach can see what you comment so make sure theyre appropriate.

BEFORE BEGINNING ANY SCIENTIFIC TRIALS PLEASE GET APPROVAL FROM MR. LOACH

TASK LIST
Getting Off The Ground As weve discussed, humans have been fascinated with birds and other flying organisms for hundreds of years. To kick-off your research as a Wright Brother, youll complete a research project on a bid species of your choice. The task

description is in your Air and Aerodynamics booklet under the same title as above. When conducting your research it is very important that you DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Plagiarism is when we copy someone elses work and claim it as our own. To avoid this, we always put information in our own words, and then we tell the reader where we got that information from. For our purposes, most internet sources will be accepted. This poster will be contained on one page of your Weebly site. Im Faaaaaaaaalling! Your friend has come to you with a problem! They keep having this dream where they are falling from great heights, and its really scaring them! In order to help your friend, please design and test a parachute. Because youll be posting progress to your Weebly, your friend will be able to follow along, and might even have one of your parachutes in their dream! What a big help that would be! You have several options to complete this task. You may choose material you construct a canopy out of, how large the canopy is, shape / alterations to the canopy, and length of your shroud lines. Keep in mind you should decide on a single manipulated variable to test. The rest should stay constant. Researching parachute design before you decide on a variable to test is a wise idea.

Up Up and Away Hot air balloons are fascinating creations, and presumably are quite fun to ride in (Ive never been in one). Fortunately for you, the company Hot Air to Get You There has offered you a free balloon ride! But theres a catch! They need you to create a web page (AKA a Weebly page!) which explains how their balloons work in order to attract more business! So youll need to complete a short research project on how a hot air balloon flies. Included should be principles of its flight (aka how it gains lift), how amount of lift is controlled, and how the balloon controls directionality of its flight. This should include images and short paragraphs describing each component and will occupy one page of your Weebly site.

On a Wing and a Prayer Construct, test, and modify model wings based on your results from Getting Off the Ground. Explain what the wings are built for and how this might make some aspects of flight more difficult. You will test your model wings in the wind tunnel and compile data on how many grams of lift you achieve. Then, make a change to try to get more lift out of your wings. Your results from each trial should be compiled in a chart, along with descriptions of the change that accompanied each trial. You should also answer the following questions: Is your wing designed for sustained, soaring flight or for fast, agile flight? What changes could you make to make your wing more stable and achieve more lift? What changes could you make it make it more agile and have less drag? Every Which Way but the Right Way One of the most important components of flight is being able to control the direction of your flight! This is the case for anything that flies, us included. In order to explore how you might be able to control flight, you will have to construct and modify a paper airplane so it will fly with its nose up and make a banked turn. You can do this by researching, designing and testing control surfaces. Fist, research control surfaces present on an airplane. Then research a design of a paper airplane. Then, construct this airplane and test its flight. Then, change your airplane in a way which will make it fly as stated. Document your results and post them to your blog. Answer these questions: Could you control your paper airplane the same way a typical airplane is controlled? Propelling Our Knowledge Construct and test models of propellers using the activities posted on the class resource page. As with the other experiments, please document your results and any changes you make to propellers! To Infinity and Beyond!! Research and describe differences in design between aircraft and spacecraft, and identify reasons for the design differences. This includes building a model rocket

(powered by alka-seltzer tabs) and adding control surfaces. You will prepare a short report describing differences in aircraft and spacecraft, then conduct various trials constructing your own rockets. Your Scientific Journal In addition to recording observations and changes made to various models, you will be required to keep a working dictionary of terms encountered in the unit. One of your site pages should be dedicated to keeping a working dictionary of terms encountered in the unit. You may construct your own definitions from what you observe or ones youve read during your research. If you copy a definition, please reference its source. You may include images, diagrams, or video as you see fit.