Audience
Educators
Grade Levels
Grades 9-12
Type
Other Multimedia, Videos
This NASA video segment explores how Newton’s laws apply to the climb of an airplane after takeoff. Viewers watch an instructor and engineer at NASA’s National Test Pilot School and learn that the flight path of an airplane is determined by variations in the speed, weight, angle and altitude of the aircraft. Viewers also learn that if certain assumptions are made, calculations can predict the aircraft’s behavior under these variations. The instructor compares two graphs on a whiteboard to show the relationship between the rate of climb and airspeed.
Climb and Descent, Lesson 7
Duration: 13 minutes 13 seconds
More videos and video clips in this series:
Introduction to Newton’s Three Laws, Lesson 1
The Law of Inertia: Newton’s First Law
Force Equals Mass Times Acceleration: Newton’s Second Law
The Law of Action and Reaction: Newton’s Third Law
Weight and Balance, Lesson 2
Lift and Rate of Change of Momentum, Lesson 3
Drag, Lesson 4
Thrust, Lesson 5
Take Off, Lesson 6
Cruise, Lesson 8
The Landing, Lesson 9
The Landing: Approach
The Landing: Flare
The Landing: Rollout
The Landing: Summary
Flight Testing Newton’s Laws Main Page