How Does an Air Foil work?

Question

I am interested in aviation and I want to do this for a science fair project but I don't know where to start.

Answer 1

It creates lift by moving the air faster underneath then on top. The air pressure on the bottom pushes the wing up.

Answer 2

no, an air foil such as an airplane wing is curved on the top and flat on the bottom. when air is flowing across this, the air on the top has to travel faster because it has to go around the curved path rather than the straight path. so the air on top of the wing is moving faster than the air under the wing. this, not sure why, causes an upward force called lift. as the plane goes faster, the force of lift also increases. so if a plane moves fast enough, the force of lift outweights the force of gravity pulling the plane down, so the plane takes off.
a bird's wing is also shaped like an air foil but they have to flap their wings in order to make the force of lift enough to overcome their weight. once at a high enough speed, they can stop flapping and just glide with their wings expanded and the air moving across their wings due to their speed is enough to accomplish the lift keeping them in the air

Answer 3

Read up on Bernoulli's Principle. Basically, air moving quickly has more pressure than air moving slowly. The curved upper side of the wing forces the air traveling over top to move farther in the same amount of time, which means it's moving faster and its air pressure is reduced. Effectively, that sucks the wing upward, lifting the plane.

There is a small effect caused by the airstream being deflected downward by the wing, but that's minor compared to aerodynamic lift.

Answer 4

The air moving over the curved part has to move faster. faster. The reason that this causes lift is because of Bernoulli's principle. Basically, this says that a moving section of any fluid or gas will have lower pressure than the surrounding air. Therefore, the air foil is litterally sucked upwards.