Aerofoils
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Aerofoils
Gideon Farrell
Download film (right-click)Animation , Artistic/Creative , Award Nominees , Demonstration , Engineering , Explanation , Physics , Secondary
An explanation of how a wing generates lift, and hence how aircraft fly.
Director's Notes:
Our film seeks to explain one of the most important aspects of heavier-than-air flight: the aerofoil. It does so by demonstrating a key idea behind it — Bernoulli’s principle — and showing how it works with a digital wind tunnel demonstration.
The Bernoulli experiment was demonstrated to us at the ‘Physics in action’ day of lectures at the Institute of Education in London.
SciCast Notes:
Nominee: Technical and Artistic Achievement, 2008
This is a complex subject, handled confidently. There are several stages to the explanation, but the argument flows nicely. Great job.
The graphics sequence the team have done is extremely elegant and works very well with the chromakeyed presenters. Excellent work, especially on the sound — adding a little reverb is a subtle but brilliant touch.
If I’m nit-picking… well, I’ve never been quite convinced by this explanation of how a wing works. I don’t see any reason, for example, why the air traveling over the top has to meet up with the air that passed underneath. And if that’s the case… why does the air over the top move more quickly, again?
It turns out this is one of those things that people argue about incessantly, and also that many textbooks give what are, at best, incomplete explanations. A classic rant on the subject (which dates back almost as far as the web itself) can be found here.
So while I’d argue with the physics, this doesn’t reflect on the team. It’s an excellent film for provoking discussion, which is sometimes the most important thing.
Oh, and — genius out-takes. I’m usually against including them because they can look indulgent, but in this case they’re handled very well indeed.
— Jonathan.