Click on the picture on the left for an exciting clip on the evolution of birds! Click on the...

Click on the picture on the left for an exciting clip on the evolution of birds!

Click on the picture on the right to watch Sir David’s Lesson 2

Introduction.

Slide 1

Early AircraftsCan you see any similarities between these aeroplanes and birds?

Slide 2

One of the things that really helps birds to be able to fly is that they are lightweight.

Can you think of any reasons why this would be helpful for flying? Any extra weight would pull a bird downwards, so the bird would have to use up extra energy to keep its heavier weight in the air! Birds are more lightweight than other creatures because they have special hollow-like bones, and beaks that weigh much less than jaws!

Birds also have feathers, which help them to catch the air that keeps them in flight!

Of course, a bird’s wings are also essential for flight! Depending on the type of bird and how it’s built, a bird will use his or her wings differently, such as to flap, soar, or hover in the air. A bird’s wings direct air to create lift so that the bird can stay up in the sky!

How do Birds Fly?

Slide 3

Just like an airplane’s wing, a bird’s wing is curved from front to back in a shape scientists call an airfoil.

As the bird’s wing flaps, air flows faster over the upward-curved top than it does across the bottom.

Fast-moving air has less pressure than slow-moving air, so there is more pressure pushing up on the wing than there is pushing down, creating what scientists call lift.

Lift is what gets a bird (or an airplane) into the air and helps keep it there.

How do Birds Fly?

Slide 4

GlidingTo glide, a bird stretches its wings out and sails along without flapping, dropping slowly toward the ground. Watch a goose or duck dropping down into a pond— that’s a glide.

HoveringThe best hoverers, hummingbirds, can stop in midair, flapping their wings over 50 times a second. Hummingbirds can also fly backward on purpose. No other birds can.

SoaringSoaring is like gliding, but a bird finds warm, rising air to carry it upward. Hawks, eagles, and vultures are all excellent soarers; so are storks, cranes, and many other large birds.

FlappingThis is the most common kind of flight, but it uses a lot of energy. Most really fast birds use flapping flight.

Four Ways to Fly

Slide 5

Most songbirds can fly about 20 to 30 miles per hour, but Common Eiders can fly nearly 50 miles per hour, and Dunlins (shorebirds) once caught up with and passed a plane flying 100 miles per hour. Peregrine Falcons are considered the fastest birds. Experts think they may reach 200 miles per hour in dives.

The Fastest Flyers

Slide 6

How does an albatross take off?

How do modern planes take off?

Slide 7

Planning Templates:

The next four slides contain different templates for planning how to make paper aeroplanes.

Whose paper aeroplane will fly the furthest?

Slide 8

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