500 Harris St Ultimo

PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238

Australia
Tel: 02 6217 0111
http://play.powerhousemuseum.com
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 2.5 License.

THE CRAFT TABLE
Make & Do Activity Kit
Aerofoil wing
Planes have wings for the same reason birds doto help
it y. The shape of a planes wing is important. Test the
powers of aerodynamics in this fun activity.
Time: 30 minutes
Difculty:
Hint: It is important not to crease the
paper as you construct your aerofoil wing.
Adult step please:
Carefully poke a hole using
scissors through both black
dots on your template sheet
large enough to push a
straw through.
1.
Bend the template paper
over till the end meets the
black line. Dont crease.
Stick into position with tape
along the line.
2.
Pass the straw through both
holes as shown.
3.
Place a 4cm long piece of
tape as shown and fold it
over to form a ag shape.
Trim straw at the tape.
Repeat on other end.
4.
Thread string through the
straw and tie beads to each
end.
5.
To y your aerofoil, hold
beads vertically and taut as
shown. Make sure the curve
of the wing is on top and
pointed edge of foil to the
front. Then run!
6.
Template
Straw
String
2 beads
Sticky tape
coloured A4 paper
What you will need:
9
Page 2
500 Harris St Ultimo
PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238
Australia
Tel: 02 6217 0111
http://play.powerhousemuseum.com
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 2.5 License.

THE CRAFT TABLE
Make & Do Activity Kit
Whats going on?
Planes have wings for the same
reason that birds do - to help
them y.
Wings can be made from all sorts of materials;
wood, metal, feathers, cloth....and paper.
To see how wings work, take a piece of paper, hold it
at and blow hard over the top. The paper rises, but
only if we keep on blowing on it. When we stop, it
comes back down again.
This gives us a clue about how birds and aeroplanes
y. It is caused simply by the air rushing over the
wings. and it is powerful enough to lift anything
from a little sparrowe to a giant Jumbo jet.
So wind helps the plane to go up, but the shape of
the wing is important too. a boomerang is curved
on the top and at on the bottom and the air goes
faster over the top than underneath. It is not the
faster air at the top that sucks up the wing, it is the
slow air underneath that is actually pushing it up!
Other man-made and natural things you can nd
that have this shape for ight are helicopter blades,
frisbees, sycamores seeds, hang-gliders and racing
cars. Racing cars have up-side down wings that
work to push the car down instead, helping the tyres
grip the road.
Aerofoil wing
9
Notes drawings & observations