Aerodynamics

The other day, I was having a conversation with my good friend Alex, when the topic of kinematic in-class projects came up. Apparently, last semester, the physics classes were assigned the task of building an egg dropper, whereas this semester, we're assigned the far more challenging task of an egg glider. Why Mr. Chung decides to add a whole new dimension to our project, I don't know.

When I first saw the word "aerodynamics", I singled out the "Aero" and thought chocolate bar. Thankfully, I was diligent enough to go home and google the actual definition. Aerodynamics is the study of forces and the resulting motion of objects through the air. Pretty straightforward, but how's this piece of knowledge going to help me build an egg glider?

....Well it won't, but I did fulfill one of the requirements for my blog. The second part includes brainstorming for the ominous task of actual handiwork. The question is: What's the best way to build a working egg glider with 25 straws, a "desk's width of tape", and one sheet of metro newspaper? Panic and grief, here I come.

The most effective way that my sleep-deprived brain can conjure up is the thought of a glider. A glider, although time consuming and tedious to make, proves also to be the most common method suggested amongst physics bloggers on bing. The glider consists of a body, two wings, and a tail. Images are shown below.




This is a pretty cool angle of a glider. Now how to make this out of straws & tape...?



Perhaps the egg can be our passenger? Who knows.