Up, Up and Away Day 1 -- What is flight?

Center for Talent Development Northwestern University Summer 2004, Session 1 S. Reed & C. Kalember, Instructors

Week 1 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Week 2 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Week 3 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15

Activity/Lab - We spent a good portion of our time today discussing what it means to fly .... Does a fly fly?  or how about a baseball or flying squirrel?  After coming to a consenus about our definition of flight, we explored the sample gliders from yesterday by identifying the predicted strengths and weaknesses of each design.  After each group presented their insights to the class, the gliders were tested ... and the Launch of the Rings out performed the others! Launch of the Rings (Green) Group Sonic Boom-er-angle (Purple) Group Climbing Crane (Yellow) Group Darting Leaf (Red) Group Each group had an opportunity to share their insights with the class. Each glider was thrown... ...and some performed much better than others. Using an informal average, we determined that the Launch of the Rings glider soared the best. Building Project - We finished the first day making modifications to the looped glider and trying out other designs. Against the wind ... ...and with the wind.