MATH 7 - Paper Airplane Project

An amazing thing about migrating birds is that they instinctively fly in a V-formation. A number of theories on why they do this have been suggested over the years, but the UK’s Royal Veterinary College had the opportunity to gain solid evidence about this phenomenon. Researchers attached data loggers on captive-bred ibises before they were reintroduced to the wild. When an ultralight aircraft led them to their wintering grounds, the birds instinctively formed the V pattern following it. The data showed the birds taking advantage of the energy-saving fixed wing aerodynamics of the V formation.

Visit the factories, research and design facilities of Airbus in France to see how the A350 plane is built. It takes four thousand engineers to come up with the design, which includes factors such as the range of flights, the number of passengers it will carry, passenger comfort, fuel efficiency, flight controls, the materials used, and so many other decisions concerning the 2.6 million parts it takes to build the plane. They use wind tunnels to test the aerodynamics of the plane’s structure, and they design smaller prototypes of the actual parts to see how they will work.