THE ORIGINS OF FLIGHTTHE ORIGINS OF FLIGHT

OVERVIEWOVERVIEW

Early Civilizations’ Ideas about Flight

Ancient Attempts to Fly

Early Contributions to Flight

Flight Legends – Ancient ChinaChinese Emperor, Shun, 2,000 B.C.escaped from prison in “work clothes of abird”, flew to freedomKei Kung, god of thunder and lightning hadwings of a batKi-Kung-Shi, built flying chariot in 1800 B.C.,could rise and move through the air with novisible means of supportLevitation

Kite invented around 1000 B.C.Silk, bamboo

General Han Hsin, 200 B.C.First to use kites in warfareMeasured distance to enemy

17th Century A.D., carry soldiers up to observe enemy actions in battle

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

Flight Legends – OtherAncient Countries

A picture of a person flying, carved on a seal, 3500 B.C., BabyloniaChinese discover gunpowder in 9th century and were using it to make simple rockets by 12th centuryWan Hoo

47 rockets tied to chairBall of smoke and fire!

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

Flight Legends – Other Ancient CountriesAlexander the Great, King of Macedonia, cage pulled by GriffinsKing of Persia (Iran) rode a flying throne carried by 4 eaglesInca civilization founded by 4 brothers; one had wings and could fly like a birdEgyptians created pictures of creatures with wings on the walls of tombs and SphinxJews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, others believe in Angels

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

Flight Legends – Greece and RomeThe Greek god Hermes and the Roman god MercuryEros, Greek god of love, and Cupid, Roman god of lovePegasus, winged horse of Greeks

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

Flight Legends – Greece and RomeDaedalus and his son, Icarus

Escaped prison with wings made from feathers attached with wax

“The Man in the Moon” used flock of geese to fly him to the moon

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS’ IDEAS ABOUT FLIGHT

Desire and Ability to FlyIn the seventeenth century, Francesco de Lana proposed an “aerial boat”

Suggested using evacuated hollow spheres to provide liftSeemed to understand a vehicle lighter than air could flyForerunner to balloon?

The first balloons were paper or cloth bags filled with hot air

EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYEARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLY

EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYEARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLY

First Record of Human Attempts to Fly

Two important traitsPeople have always wanted to flyFlight has depended on building machines to carry us through the air

Why?

EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYEARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYFirst Record of Human Attempts to Fly

In 852 A.D. Armen Firman jumped from a tower with cloak..it didn’t work!As early as the 11th century, there are records of people trying to fly by attaching large wings to their bodies and jumping from high places

Attempting to imitate the flights of birdsMade from cloth and woodSometimes feathers

Wings of birds support less than 1 pound per square foot of wing areaSome (ducks/geese) have as much as 2 pounds per square foot

How much wing area for a 150 pound man?

EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYEARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYFirst Record of Human Attempts to Fly

In 852 A.D. Armen Firman jumped from a tower with cloak..it didn’t work!As early as the 11th century, there are records of people trying to fly by attaching large wings to their bodies and jumping from high places

Attempting to imitate the flights of birdsMade from cloth and woodSometimes feathers

Wings of birds support less than 1 pound per square foot of wing areaSome (ducks/geese) have as much as 2 pounds per square foot

How much wing area for a 150 pound man?25x3=75 sq ft 75x2=150 sq ft

EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYEARLY ATTEMPTS TO FLYFirst Record of Human Attempts to Fly

Took place before the days of science, mostly trial & errorLack of power made search almost pointlessMost attempts unsuccessful until the invention of motors/engines

Gliders are unpowered airplanesFlight is act of passing through the air by the use of wings Parachutes slow the descent of a person or object to Earth

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

Leonardo da Vinci

Lived from 1452 – 1519G.A. Borelli

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

Leonardo da VinciLived from 1452 – 1519Influenced by birdsDrew gliders with wings like a batLeft 160 pages of descriptions and sketches, including the first known design of a helicopter and parachute

If he had worked on fixed-wing gliders instead of bird-like machines, he might have moved aviation ahead by 400 yearsHis papers were not found until 300 years after his death

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

Leonardo da VinciCenter of Gravity

Center of Pressure

cp = (S[x * p(x)]dx) / (S[p(x)]dx)

Streamlining

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

Leonardo da VinciCenter of Gravity

Point were an object is balanced

Center of PressureAverage location of the pressure on the surface of the object

StreamliningShaping of an object, such as an aircraft body, wing, boat, car, etc. to reduce the amount of drag or resistance to motion through a fluid (air or water)

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLIGHT

G. A. BorelliCame to conclusion about 150 years after da Vinci that it would be impossible for men to fly using his own muscles because of their small power output

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

Early Civilizations’ Ideas about Flight

Ancient Attempts to Fly

Early Contributions to Flight