The largest commercial airplane in the world, the Airbus A380, can weigh 1,265,000 pounds when it takes off. How on earth can something that big and heavy fly? This course answers that question. We’ll begin by exploring the Kinetic Theory of Gases and Bernoulli’s Principle (don’t worry if you don’t know what those are – you will after you take the course!), and we’ll try out some demonstrations to see how those work. We’ll also talk about Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow (during a discussion of the manly way to cook macaroni and cheese) and Conservation of Momentum, both of which are critical to understanding flight. We’ll have some human-sized airplane wings so you can feel what “lift” is like, and we’ll talk about how propellers (why do they have such a weird shape?) and jet engines work. You’ll finish the course knowing exactly how airplanes can fly!


LLI Coordinator: Jo Anne Renton