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What Makes Airplanes Fly?

History, Science, and Applications of Aerodynamics

  • Book
  • © 1991

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter P. Wegener

    1. Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University, New Haven, USA

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. A Dream Comes True: The Wright Brothers and Their Predecessors

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 1-24

  3. Milestones of the Modern Age

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 25-39

  4. The Nature of Liquids and Gases

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 41-46

  5. The Atmosphere of the Earth

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 47-55

  6. Air in Motion

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 57-77

  7. Turning to Aerodynamics

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 79-86

  8. Aerodynamic Drag

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 87-108

  9. Aerodynamic Lift

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 109-130

  10. Notes on the Whole Airplane

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 131-144

  11. Toward High Speed: Supersonic and Hypersonic Flight

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 145-166

  12. Air Transportation and the Outlook for the Future

    • Peter P. Wegener
    Pages 167-179

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 181-225
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Keywords

About this book

Developed for humanities students at Yale and intended for the general reader interested in flight, this book is about aerodynamics in the broadest sense. To put the science into its social context, the author describes (with many illustrations) the history of human attempts to fly and discusses the outlook for future developments, as well as the social impact of commercial aviation. Although only elementary mathematics is used, the underlying science is discussed rigorously, but clearly, and with an emphasis on the visualizable aspects. Thus readers whose background is not in physics will deepen their knowledge of physics, gain an understanding of what keeps the huge airliners up, and appreciate some of the details of the exciting recent developments in technology.

Reviews

 From the reviews:

"Peter Wegener has written the perfect book for those of us who nurse some doubts to our understanding of what makes airplanes fly … The volume is filled with clear and useful examples that illustrate the essential concepts … [Anyone] who has ever tried to explain the principles of flight to a spouse or child without resorting to a blackboard full of equations will appreciate What Makes Airplanes Fly? Take heart! The author proves it can be done."  American Journal of Physics

Authors and Affiliations

  • Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University, New Haven, USA

    Peter P. Wegener

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: What Makes Airplanes Fly?

  • Book Subtitle: History, Science, and Applications of Aerodynamics

  • Authors: Peter P. Wegener

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0403-6

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1991

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4684-0403-6Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 225

  • Topics: Fluid- and Aerodynamics, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics

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