The Flying Machine Book: Build and Launch 35 Rockets, Gliders, Helicopters, Boomerangs, and More

172 Pages·2012·3.99 MB·English

by  Bobby Mercer

To teachers everywhere,
Thanks for inspiring children every day.
Copyright © 2012 by Bobby Mercer All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978-1-61374-086-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mercer, Bobby, 1961—
The flying machine book : build and launch 35 rockets, gliders, helicopters, boomerangs, and
more/Bobby Mercer.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: “Shows readers how to turn rubber bands, paper clips, straws, plastic bottles, and index cards
into amazing, gravity-defying flyers. Each project contains a material list and detailed step-by-step
instructions with photos. Mercer also includes explanations of the science behind each flyer, including
concepts such as lift, thrust, and drag, the Bernoulli effect, and more”-- Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-61374-086-6 (pbk.) 1. Paper airplanes. 2. Flying-machines--Models. I. Title.
TL778.M47 2012
745.592—dc23
2011041174
Cover design: Andrew Brozyna Interior design and illustrations: Scott Rattray Interior photographs: Bobby
Mercer Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Flight School
2 Rockets
Basic Straw Rocket
Cruise Missile
Bottle Rocket
Soda Pop Rocket
Blow Darts
Whisper Rocket
3 Hand-Powered Gliders
Flying Flounder
Plastic Zipper
Paper Plate Flyer
Red Baron
Round Square Flyer
Three-Penny Flyer
Phonebook Flipper
4 Rubber Band-Powered Gliders
Classic Dart
Flat Flyer
Mini-Delta Flyer
F-16
Falcon Frenzy
Streak
Foam Plate Shuttle
Bat-Wing Flyer
5 Helicopters
Apache
Straw Copter
Super Spinner
Maple Key Helicopter
Fantastic Four-Blade
6 Launchers
X-Wing Flyer and Launcher
Grape Bazooka
Straight-as-an-Arrow Launcher
Pistol Grip Launcher
Pringles Launcher
7 Boomerangs
Basic Fingerrang
Triple Threat
Criss-Cross Flyer
Ninja Star
Aussie

Acknowledgments
Thanks to all the people who helped turn an idea for free flying machines into
this book. Kathy Green for helping this book find a home. Jerome Pohlen and
the creative people at Chicago Review Press for making it look great. Robert
Frost and Greg Robinson for lending me their real flying experience. But most of
all, thanks to my wonderful family. Michele, you are amazing and understanding
when I don’t put the scissors back. Nicole, for helping me build many of the
flyers in this book. Jordan, thanks for making everyone in the house smile. A
special thanks to Molly, Belle, and Sally, our three lovingly psycho cats, for
chasing flyers all around the house and the great outdoors.
Introduction
A bird inflight is an inspiring beauty to behold. Making and flying things with
your own hands is just pure fun. We have all enjoyed the feeling of watching our
creations take off. Seeing paper airplanes being tossed about is a joy. Water
balloons arcing gracefully toward an intended target make us smile.
The flying projects in this book range from very easy to difficult, and
everybody should to be able to find a favorite. Each fun flyer project is designed
to let you experiment with, tweak, and explore the wonderful world of flight. The
materials required for these flyers are everyday items found in most homes and
classrooms, so there is no expensive stuff to buy. Just go have fun!
1
Flight School
The ability to fly has amazed people since time began. The earliest humans
watched birds soaring in the sky and dreamed of joining them. Kites were
probably humankind’s first attempt to reach the skies. The Chinese first started
flying kites around 400 BO, for ceremonies and just for fun.
Leonardo da Vinci was the first person known to seriously study flight. His
drawings described his theories on bird flight. Da Vinci even drew pictures of
imaginary flyers that would allow a person to fly under his or her own power.
Although none were built for over 400 years, his designs inspired the invention
of the helicopter.
In the late 1700s, hot air gave human-powered flight a lift. People discovered
that hot air rises, so a bag filled with hot air will float. This led to the invention of
the hot air balloon. Hot air balloons soared over Europe in the 1780s, giving
people the opportunity to realize their dreams of flying through the air.
Around 1800, Englishman George Cayley took flying in a new direction
when he discovered the modern airfoil. Cayley, often called the Father of
Aviation because of his studies, is acknowledged as the first person to realize that
the battling forces governing flight were lift, thrust, drag, and weight. He also
built the first glider capable of holding a person, and that first flyer was a 10-
year-old boy. Cayley also experimented with rudders and flaps, just like you will
on the flyers in this book.
Of course, the Wright brothers pioneered powered flight, but Cayley’s work is
more closely related to the flying machines you will be building.
Each chapter in this book focuses on one type of flyer: helicopters, rockets,
boomerangs, and different types of gliders. Not all the flyers are easy to make,
and many take practice to perfect. But with a little patience, your flyer can reach
the sky.
The Bernoulli Principle
Daniel Bernoulli’s dad, a brilliant mathematician, never wanted his son to study
math. Instead, he wanted Daniel to study medicine because it paid better. Daniel
did go into medicine but never forgot his love of math. As a math professor in
his 20s, he discovered a principle that combined his interests in math, science,
and medicine, and it made him both famous and rich.
At the time of his discovery, Bernoulli was working with blood. He wanted to
know about the relationship between blood pressure inside an artery and the
speed of the blood through the artery. He soon realized that if he punctured a
tube carrying a fluid with a thin pipe, the fluid would go up the pipe. And more
interestingly, how far it rose (due to pressure) was related to the speed of the
fluid past the end of the pipe. For the next 150 years in Europe, physicians would
measure blood pressure by piercing a patient’s artery with a thin glass tube.
Luckily for you and me, we have a safer way to measure blood pressure today.
Even though Bernoulli was working with a liquid, the same principle works
for gases such as air. Scientists classify both liquids and gases as fluids, since they
flow.
You can see Bernoulli’s principle at work by doing this simple experiment.
Hold a long strip of paper (a dollar bill works well) tucked tightly just under your
bottom lip. Blow hard, directly outward, and the strip will rise. Fast-moving air
creates a low pressure above the paper, and the strip lifts.
Now, let’s put Bernoulli’s principle to work and learn more about the science
of flight.
Four Forces
Flight is governed by four forces: lift, thrust, drag, and weight.
Lift
Thanks to Mr. Bernoulli, we now know that as air moves over an airfoil (airplane
wing, helicopter rotor blade, etc.), the air over the top has to travel a greater
distance. Because it travels a greater distance in the same amount of time, it
moves faster than the air moving under the wing. Faster air has lower pressure
than slower air. High pressure under the wing will lift the wing up toward the
area of lower pressure.