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Awesome Airbus Teachers’ notes What’s it all about The world's biggest passenger plane - the Airbus A380 - has taken to the sky for its first public flight. The plane, which is taller than six double decker buses and longer than a football pitch, was designed and built by experts from many European countries. Inside, there's lots of room for people to relax and some of the planes could even have a gym and shops inside. In this activity children learn to explain how such an enormous plane can take off and stay in the air. They design an Airbus for their school and consider whether it will fit in the playground. Where it fits Science: QCA Unit 6E Forces in action that several forces may act on one object to represent the direction of forces by arrows Scientific enquiry that science is about thinking creatively to try to explain how non-living things work and to establish links between cause and effect make relevant observations and measurements and use them to draw conclusions consider what sources of information including first hand experience and a range of other sources they will use to answer questions use scientific knowledge and understanding to explain data or conclusions What children will learn: that forces can be balanced and unbalanced Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 3 successfully. that when forces are unbalanced, things move Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 3 successfully. that when the force on the underside of a wing is greater than the force on the upperside the plane will take off Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 3 successfully. the dimensions of an Airbus A380 Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 4 successfully. What you need to do Introducing the activity 1 Display Page 1 through data projector or on an OHT. Introduce the story by telling the children some facts about this colossal airplane e.g. The A380 is the length of eight London buses 70 cars could be parked on its wings It is 15m wider, 4m taller and 2m longer than a 747 If every seat on board was economy class there would be room for 853 passengers. A 747 has room for 568. Ask the children to work in small groups and discuss what they would like to see aboard such a large plane. Leading the main activity Display Page 2 through a data projector or on an OHT. Discuss the forces labelled on the image. Discuss how drag is air-resistance and how weight is a force that acts downwards. Consider what forces are acting on the airplane when it is stationary on the runway. Ask the children if they have travelled by plane. Ask them to describe the feeling of taking off. On a whiteboard make a list of words used in the descriptions. E.g. fast, push, up etc. Ask the children if any of the words are describing the forces shown on the diagram. Describe how the faster the air moves over the top of the wing the lower the air pressure on that part of the wing – this causes lift. The forces on the wing are unbalanced and there is a greater force upwards than downwards. Optional practical investigation How does lift work? Equipment you will need: Paper wings - strips of paper (newspaper is good) approx. 5 cm by 25 cm A book to hold the edge of the paper wing (the shorter the better) Paper clips Lots of puff What to do: 1. Try the activity with the paper wing in the book first. 2. Trap the short end of the paper strip in a book and let the strip hang down from it. Notice how it curves like an airplane wing? 3. Ask the children to predict what will happen as they blow across the top of the wing. 4. Ask the children to hold the book vertically with the strip facing away from them and blow across the top of the strip. 5. The strip lifts up! 6. Now try the activity holding the paper wing against the chin. 7. Take the paper wing out of the book. 8. Hold the paper wing between your finger and thumb and rest it against your chin. 9. Blow across the top of the paper wing. 10. What happens to the paper wing? 11. Fasten a paper clip to the other end of the paper wing. 12. Try blowing across the wing again. 13. How many paper clips can you fasten onto your paper wing before it has difficulty lifting? 14. Try pulling your paper wing quickly through the air. 15. Does it still lift? Display Page 3 through a data projector or on an OHT. Print off copies for the children. Discussion starters What are the forces on the airplane? Look at page 2 to remind you. Discuss whether the forces are large and small 2 In what direction are these forces acting? Are the forces balanced or unbalanced in each case? Fill in the gaps. Extension activity Look at pictures of different planes. Gliders have large wings Jet planes have smaller wings Predict what two factors are needed to cause the plane to lift. Try pulling the paper wing through the air at different speeds. Return to Page 1 Look at the image of the Airbus and the person from the airline company. Recap ideas discussed at beginning. Ask the children how they would explain how such a large aircraft stays in the air. Role play being a worried passenger and a calm air crew. Display Page 4 through a data projector or on an OHT. Discuss activity with whole class. What kind of things would children like to see on a school plane? Look at the dimensions of the plane. How long is it? How wide is it? Would it fit on the playground? Can you estimate how big it is? Measure the playground and see Extension Ideas . . . Cross Curricular Links Design a paper airplane (Design and technology) Design an airplane that flies a) the fastest b) the furthest. What modifications need to be made? Flying Machines (History): Research the history of the airplane e.g. Orville and Wilbur Wright and the world's first flight on the Kitty Hawk. Reporting from the Airbus A380 (Literacy) Imagine you are one of the press reporters on the first public flight of the Airbus A380. What is it like? Describe the features inside. How does it compare to a normal-sized plane? How would you persuade other people to take a flight? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a large aircraft? 3 Assessment for Learning: Smart Grid Thumbs Up We were great at the task because… Thumbs Sideways We were good at the task because… Thumbs Down We were OK at the task because… We correctly identified the forces and the direction in which they were acting We were able to explain that air moving quickly over the wing produces lift We stated that the amount of lift depends on the length and the speed of the wing We knew that the plane takes off when the force pushing up on the wing is greater than the force pushing down We labelled the diagrams correctly Next time we will… We knew that the forces are unbalanced when the plane is taking off we . . . Smart Grids were devised by the Centre for Science Education 4 Science at your fingertips Is the Airbus A380 the biggest plane in the world? No. The world's biggest plane is the Antonov 225. It was originally designed to transport the former Soviet Union's Buran space shuttle. The six-engined plane can carry over 250 tonnes of cargo - double that of the largest plane in current use, another Antonov. It has a wingspan of 88.4 metres (291 feet) and a cargo compartment capable of storing about 80 cars. Only two of the original Antonov 225s were ever built, and only one ever took to the air. Why are wings curved? The design of the wings causes air to travel faster over the upper surface of the wing. Since the upper surface of the wing is longer, it causes the air to flow faster over the upper surface, which (by Bernoulli's principle) creates lower pressure above. Faster moving air causes a decrease in pressure. The air below the wing is travelling slower which causes an increase in pressure. This difference in pressure causes the plane to lift. How does a plane fly? A Boeing 777 takes off at about 180 miles per hour. At this speed, the wings would have created a lifting force greater than the weight of the airplane (287 tons or 632,500 lbs). As it accelerates, the lifting force becomes even greater causing the airplane to climb further. It will continue to accelerate as it climbs to its cruising altitude of about 35,000 feet (about 7 miles high). During cruise, the weight of the aircraft would be about 275 tons due to some of the fuel being burnt off during the climb. The lifting force generated by the wings now is also about 275 tons, creating equilibrium. The plane would no longer climb but continues to move forward because of thrust forces generated by the jet engines. Web links How Stuff Works http://travel.howstuffworks.com/a380.htm Airbus A380 How does a plane fly http://www.raes.org.uk/raes/careers/education/education_planes.htm Excellent resource showing forces on a plane BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6330000/newsid_6339700/6339773.stm Story of the Airbus A380 public flight Aeronautics learning Lab http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/Experiment1.htm Airfoil experiments BBC H2g2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A517169 Bernoulli’s principle Geocities http://www.geocities.com/khlim777_my/asaerodynamics1.htm How an airplane flies – ask a pilot questions and answers 5 Chaos http://www.chaosscience.org.uk/dem/public_html//article.php?story=2003092116572 8982 Explanations and demos of air streams primaryupd8 is a joint initiative from ASE and the Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University. We are grateful for support from the Department for Education and Skills in developing this programme. 6