Welcome to crash course Aerospace! We will start with a common lighter-than-air aircraft: the hot air balloon. Hot air balloons date all the way back to 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers created the first in Paris, France. True to their name, hot air balloons use hot air to float. When air heats up, it expands and becomes less dense. Therefore, less air is needed to fill the balloon because it has expanded. This means the air inside the balloon weighs less than the air outside the balloon, so it floats. Hence the name “lighter than air.” More common, however, is heavier than air aircraft, like airplanes. An airplane is made up of five basic parts. The wings help to provide lift and stability. The ailerons are flaps on the wings which control the aircraft’s roll. Most commercial airplanes have the power plants, or engines, under the wings. The fuselage is the main body of the airplane, and the landing gear is helpful if you want to use the plane more than once. The empennage is a fancy term for the tail of the airplane, and it contains many important control surfaces. On the empennage, the rudder controls yaw, the left-right movement. The elevators control pitch, which is the up-down movement. The trim tabs provide fine adjustments to the elevators and rudder. In order for a plane to fly, it is important that it is balanced correctly. Because torque is proportional to distance, the empennage needs to be far enough from the center of mass to make required adjustments. However, if the center of mass is too far forward, the airplane will pitch forward, making it almost impossible to control. In order to prevent this, airplanes have a “center of gravity moment envelope,” which makes sure the loaded weight and the torque of that weight correspond safely. Most airplanes and hot air balloons fly in the troposphere, which ends about 12 kilometers above the earth. Above that is the stratosphere, which contains the ozone layer. Next is the mesosphere, where most meteors burn up. The last real “layer” is the thermosphere. This is where most satellites orbit. Finally, the exosphere is basically space. Anyways, thanks for watching. Special thanks to Timothy for directing, producing, and animating this presentation. Please like and subscribe to this fictitious channel and ring that notification bell!
