The study of airflow and its principles. Applied aerodynamics is the science of improving man-made objects in light of those principles.
The design of an airplane's wing when seen from the end, a shape intended to maximize the aircraft's response to airflow.
The orientation of the airfoil with regard to the airflow, or the angle that the chord line forms with the direction of the air stream.
A proposition, credited to Swiss mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782), which maintains that slower-moving fluid exerts greater pressure than faster-movingfluid.
The enhanced curvature on the upper surface of an airfoil.
The distance, along an imaginary straight line, from the stagnation point of an airfoil to the rear, or trailing edge.
A law of physics which holds that within a system isolated from all other outside factors, the total amount of energy remains the same, though transformations of energy from one form to another take place.
Any substance, whether gas or liquid, that conforms to the shape of itscontainer.
The study of water flow and its principles.
A situation involving two variables, in which one of the two increases in direct proportion to the decrease in the other.
The energy that an object possesses by virtue of its motion.
A term describing a streamlined flow, in which all particles move at the same speed and in the same direction. Its opposite is turbulent flow.
An aerodynamic force perpendicular to the direction of the wind. For an aircraft, lift is the force that raises it off the ground and keeps it aloft.
Devices for measuring pressure in conjunction with a Venturi tube.
The energy that an object possesses by virtue of its position.
The spot where airflow hits the leading edge of an airfoil.
A term describing a highly irregular form of flow, in which a fluid is subject to continual changes in speed and direction. Its opposite is laminar flow.
An instrument, consisting of a glass tube with an inward-sloping area in the middle, for measuring the drop in pressure that takes place as the velocity of a fluid increases.
The internal friction in a fluid that makes it resistant to flow.
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