Section 2 Introduction Page 1 ( A Little Background on Flight)
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A Little Background on Flight
Now that you know some of the properties of air,
- air takes up space
- air has mass/weight
- air exerts pressure
- air can be compressed
- air is a fluid
When people first started to build flying devices, they spent hours watching birds fly. They studied closely the structure of their wings and how they used their wings to take off, glide, and land.
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Kites were one of the very first flying devices used in China about 400 BCE
In the 1480s, Leonardo Da Vinci produced hundreds of plans for flying devices, including the Ornithopter flying machine. Modern helicopters were modelled after his designs.
Many other designs and attempts at flying devices followed, including hot air balloons and various types of gliders.
On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers recorded the first ever flight
by humans. Their 12-second flight of the “Kitty Hawk” flyer was the
very first step toward humans taking to the air.
Today, people can fly hundreds and thousands of kilometres anytime they
want—or anytime they can have access to an aircraft! Have you ever
stopped to think about how those gigantic, metal planes get into the
air?
How did we get from birds...
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...to this?
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Literacy Connection
A story in Greek mythology tells how one man constructed his own wings to allow his son and himself to escape from captivity on an island. To find out what happened to him and his son, read about the Myth of Daedalus and Icarus.