Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am trying to do the project named "Which wing design creates the greatest lift?" from the Science Buddies website. Under the experimental procedure, I do not understand the second step which says "Thin wooden supports of equal weight and length were created for each side of each wing and attached to allow the wing to pivot on the side support." I guess my specific questions are 1. Are the wooden support perpendicular to the wing? 2. I cannot picture how the side supports are made - what are they attached to? Thank you for your help!

Hi skemp,

I don't really understand the design either, but I'll do my best.

If you look at http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bga.html (one of the referenced sites), there are no supports. The only pivoting is done by rolling of plane.

Supports must be used to keep the airplane rigid. My guess is that the supports are at a 45 degree angle between the wing and the main body of the airplane.

Thank you for your reply. I am leaving on a mission trip to Honduras so I will not be able to work on my project until I get back. I may have more questions! Thanks again - skemp

David,
I looked at the referenced website, but I could not find where it talked about this type of experiment. Could you tell me where you looked on the website? Thanks!

Hi skemp,

You are correct. The referenced website (http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bga.html) talks about rolling of wings. It does not have a connection between the wing and the airplane.

My guess is that the side supports were added to the sciencebuddies design to make the airplane more rigid and more stable. These supports may not be needed in a metal airplane, as in the referenced site.

This is another area to experiment: what happens if you build the plane with the side supports vs. building the plane without the supports? Note: it may be difficult to implement this experiment. If you first build the plane without supports, it may be too unstable, perhaps destructive, to run the experiment. If you first run the experiment with the side supports, it may be difficult to 1. remove the supports, 2. rerun the experiment and 3. have a working model for display. I'll leave the above to your discretion.

Again, this not my area of expertise, and, perhaps others have more experience.

Hi skemp,

Have a great trip to Honduras! That sounds exotic. (I forget to mention this in my last message.)