I remember as a kid, when I see birds fly past our house, I see them flap their wing and then I try to do the same. At a particular point, I added some piece of cloth to both arm to see what would happen, I was still stocked to the ground.
Licence: Public Domain -- Source: Pixabay
Licence: CC0 -- Source: Pexels
Man had always desired to fly and the breakthrough came with the invention of planes, unfortunately, man would not be able to fly without the aid of a tangible structure or device. Now the question lies in what is responsible for the ability to fly? Does this ability depend on our weight? Is it a talent for the few? Does it have to do with possessing wing?
The answer to these question lies in Physics! Before we learn more on the physics of flying, lets go through reasons why humans can fly!
Gravity
Gravity is one of the reasons why we can't fly. Gravity is a phenomenon used to describe a force of a planetary body exerted to attract another object or body to itself, particularly its center. This is similar to magnets attracting ferromagnetic metals such as pins and nails. This force is present on earth, drawing every object to the center of the earth. This is the reason why during the rotation and revolution of the earth, we don't fall off but are held to the ground. And this is the reason why whatever goes up must surely come down. This bring about weight. In space, you float because there are no gravitational pull exerted on you, here you don't have weight.
Flying animals and aircraft are able to overcome weight by generating a force in opposition to weight, this force is known as lift. This force as to be maintain for the aviator to remain suspended in the air.
Osteological and Musculature Difference
Osteology is the study of bones and bony framework of vertebrate animals. The shapes and density of human and bird bones are clearly different. Birds are adapted for flying while humans are designed for land. This is essential for our life activities: We are not bird and so we have a different lifestyle which does not require the bones of chickens.
The wings of flying bird is designed for generating the various forces required for flying.
Flying Breakthrough in World of Men!!
Aviation is the study flying. Aviators are organisms or objects that fly. We are familiar with natural aviators such as insects, birds and bats. There are human inventions also considered as aviators, these include the helicopter, rocket, airplanes, balloons and kites.
The first man made objects to fly are the kites, invented in the sixth century in China by Yuan Huangtou. In the year 559, Yuan was a prisoner of the Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi. As a way of escape, he launched himself on a kite which he glided over the city walls. Several other people are recorded to use gliding objects to launch themselves into the air.
An hot air ballon uses the density difference of the air inside the balloon and the surrounding air to lift it up
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Hot air balloons were then invented with slight modifications in every progress. Soon, man invented an flying object heavier than air. The The wright brothers invented and flew the first successful airplane. This brought a turn around in the world of science.
An important branch of science when it comes to aviation is Aerodynamics. This studies the relationship and interaction between a moving object and gases (air). The principles of aerodynamics explains the mechanism behind a flying plane.
There are four forces responsible for flight: Weight, Lift, Thrust and Drag. These forces determine show an object moves in the air- these include its speed and direction.
Weight is a product of gravity exerted on the mass of an object. The formula for calculating the weight of an object is (F (w) = Mass X Acceleration due to gravity). Acceleration due to gravity is usually a constant of 9.8 ms-1. For a body to fly, it need an energy to exert it in opposite direction of its gravitational pull, a greater force to overcome its weight. A body of mass 3 kg needs a lesser energy to create an upward push than an airplane of mass 8850 kg. However, a landing object rely on this force to descend.
Lift is the force required for an object to move up. It is a force in opposition to weight. This is the force we apply when we jump up into the air. For an object to fly in the air, it requires enough lift to counter its weight, this lift in different aviator generated in different ways. Hot air balloon generate this force with the help of hot air which is lighter than air, a kite depends on its lightness and shape, an helicopter uses its blades, a rocket uses its explosive gun powders and an air plane requires its wing's shape.
Drag is a force in opposition to the forward movement of an object. Water has more drag on an object than air. An object shape also determines how much drag it will encounter, that is the reason why aircraft have their shape. For an aircraft or even a car to move forward, it requires a high amount of force to overcome its drag, this force is known as thrust.
A propeller
Licence: Public Domain -- Source: Wikimedia
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With all these forces in place, man has been able to fly however, man flying like birds will never be possible.
Thank you!!
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