Soaring the Skies: Superman and the Science of Flight
INTRODUCTION UP UP AND AWAY With an effortless leap Superman bounds into the air No wings No engines No special gear or gadgets Just a cape and his unique ability to defy the scientific laws that keep us grounded Imagine what it would be like to have his power of flight Where would you go What would you see For thousands of years flight really was something people could only dream about But these days soaring the skies is not limited to super heroes While we lack the Man of Steel’s superpowers the ability to fly is well within our grasp In fact we often take it for granted Almost anywhere on this planet is just a plane ride away But have you ever stopped to think about what makes flight possible For instance how does a hang glider stay aloft with no engine to power it Or what helps a massive jumbo jet get off the ground The answers are simple science engineering and a little inspiration from nature From wingsuits and fighter jets to flying fish and stealth aircraft get ready to explore the incredible world of flight 44
FACT When Superman first appeared in comics in 1938 he could leap great distances and over tall buildings It wasn’t until the early 1940s that he was shown to actually fly 55
SECTION 1 FLIGHT LESSONS One second Clark Kent peels off his shirt and tie The next Superman soars over Metropolis Flight is child’s play for Superman but it challenged scientists and engineers for centuries Now their discoveries in flight science allow us to touch the clouds The Physics of Flight Flight takes many forms Birds flap their wings and airplanes use jet engines But both must deal with gravity Gravity is the force that pulls all objects toward Earth Everything dropped launched or flown falls to Earth unless it overcomes gravity To do that fliers must employ thrust to move them forward through the air Aircraft get thrust from their powerful engines Birds experience thrust when they flap their wings 6
But forward thrust alone won’t keep fliers airborne They must also create lift or an upward force to overcome gravity Birds and planes have shaped wings to help create lift but they only work when moving An airplane doesn’t create lift if its engines fail to push it forward And while birds can glide without flapping gravity pulls them down as their thrust decreases Commercial jets use powerful engines and shaped wings to achieve the thrust and lift necessary for liftoff Low Energy Lift Eagles and other birds of prey are experts at creating lift with little effort Their heavy bodies make flapping tiresome Instead these birds seek out thermal currents Without flapping they ride rising pockets of warm air upward for hundreds of feet thrust the force that pushes a vehicle forward lift the upward force of air that causes an object to fly thermal having to do with heat or holding in heat 7
