S EA R C H LIG H T What modern machine’s name sounds a lot like ornithopter the flapping-wing machine that people tried to fly 10
AIRPLANES The FirstFlights From the earliest times people wanted to fly but no one knew how Some people thought it would help if their arms were more like bird wings So they strapped large feathery wings to their arms Not one left the ground A few even tried machines with flapping wings called ornithopters These didn’t work either DID YOU KNOW In 1986 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager made the first nonstop round-the world flight in an airplane They did the whole trip without refueling Then in 1799 a scientist named George Cayley wrote a book and drew pictures explaining how birds use their wings and the speed of the wind to fly About a hundred years later two American brothers named Orville and Wilbur Wright read Cayley’s book Although they were bicycle makers they decided to build a flying machine The Wright brothers machine Flyer I had the strong light wings of a glider a gasoline-powered engine and two propellers Then from a list of places where strong winds blow they selected the Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk North Carolina U S as the site of their experiment In 1903 Orville lying flat on the lower wing of Flyer I flew a distance of 120 feet That first flight lasted only 12 seconds The next year the Wrights managed to fly their second aeroplane Flyer II nearly 3 miles over a period of 5 minutes and 4 seconds Soon Glenn Curtiss another bicycle maker made a faster airplane called the 1909 type Not long after that Louis Blériot from France did something no one had tried before He flew his plane across the English Channel He was the first man to fly across the sea The age of flight had begun LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES AUTOMOBILES SHIPS WIND POWER The Wright brothers had read that wind was very important for flying That’s why they chose the windy hill in North Carolina Bettmann Corbis An ornithopter’s means bird wing words means wing A helicopter’s name means whirling wing Answer How about the helicopter The opter part of both 11
s t rs We don’t know exactly how the first human transportation over water From R a f Ocea n to Lin happened But it’s not hard to imagine how it might have come about e Long ago people used anything that would float to move things across water bundles of reeds even jars and covered baskets Perhaps one day someone tied three or four logs together This made a raft Maybe someone else hollowed out a log as a kind of canoe These log boats could be moved by people paddling with their hands Later they might have used a stick or a pole to make their boat move faster Whoever put the first sail on a boat made a wonderful discovery Sailing was faster and easier than paddling because it caught the wind and made it do the work S EA R C H LIG H T From each of these pairs pick the type of boat that was developed first a raft or sailboat b submarine or canoe c paddle wheel or rowboat
SHIPS DID YOU KNOW In 1947 Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl and a small crew sailed some 5,000 miles of ocean on a balsawood raft called the Kon-Tiki It was an experiment to see if ancient Americans could have settled some Pacific islands Eventually someone built a ship that used a sail and long paddles called oars When there was little or no wind the sailors rowed with the oars In time sailors learned to turn or set a sail to make the boat go in almost any direction they wished Paddles began to be used again much later in giant wheels that moved large boats through the water A steam engine powered these paddle wheels which were too heavy to turn by hand Steamboats cruised rivers lakes and oceans all over the world Today ships and boats use many different kinds of engines Most ships use oil to generate power Some submarines run on nuclear power But on warm days many people still enjoy traveling on water by paddling sailing and even rafting LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES SUBMARINES WATER POWER WIND POWER Today’s ocean liners provide a popular way for people to get from one place to another and to vacation on the way Melvyn P Lawes Papilio Corbis Answer a raft b canoe c rowboat 13
