What is aerodynamics? How does it work?
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Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas flows. The solution of an aerodynamic problem normally involves calculating for various properties of the flow, such as velocity, pressure, density, and temperature, as a function of space and time. Understanding the flow pattern makes it possible to calculate or approximate the forces and moments acting on bodies in the flow. This mathematical analysis and empirical approximation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.\n\nAerodynamic problems can be classified in a number of ways. The flow environment defines the first classification criterion. External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket or the flow of air over a hard drive head are examples of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine or through an air conditioning pipe.
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Beginners guide to Aerodynamics:\nhttp://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bga.html\n\nAerodynamics on Wikipedia:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodynamics\n\nAerodynamics in car racing:\nhttp://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/Racecar/\n\nDownforce on Wikipedia:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downforce\n\nplenty more if you just stick the search terms "aerodynamics", "downforce", or "car aerodynamics" into any old internet search engine.
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The different control surfaces on the wings and tail can control both the angle of the plane and the amount of lift that the wings provide, while varying the engine power can control speed. For example, before landing, a plane is going much slower than crusing speed, but the flaps on the wings are extended, creating a little more drag, but increasing the lift.
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The curve on the top of the wing increases the distance that the air has to travel to reach the back of the wing.  Since the air molecules on top and the ones on the bottom reach the end of the wing at the same time, the equation of V=d/t shows that velocity increases.
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If you look at the shape of the wings you will notice that they are not 'flat'.  They have a unique shape to them.  The shape forces the air that flows below the wing to travel faster than the air above them, which pushes up on the underside of the wing, otherwise known as 'lift'.
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Lift is created as air passes over the upper and lower sides of the wings. The air splits at the front edge of the wing. The upper surface is curved, making it slightly longer than the lower surface of the wing. The air molecules separate at the leading edge (halftraveling over the top and half across the bottom of the wing) and meet again in approximatly the same position as they were before they separated. This spreads the molecules out slightly on the upper surface of the wing and forces them to travel faster, creating a vacuum between the molecules(low pressure). The air on the lower surfrace of the wing doesn't speed up or spread out since the surface is flat (on high lift wings). This creates a high pressure area across the lower side of the wing.\nSince there is low pressure on the upper surface and high pressure on the lower surface, the wing lifts.
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Cars are aerodynamic to reduce wind resistance but this does not create the Bernoulli effect necessarily.\n\nIn fact cars, especially race cars, are designed like upside down aircraft.  Instead of lift, they use the Bernoulli principle to create a down force.\n\nIf cars were round on the bottom and flat on the top then the Bernoulli principle would kick in and create lift.  Probably not enough lift to make the car fly but probably enough lift to make it uncontrollable on the ground.
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A glider (or sail plane) is towed aloft by a small engined plane and released within or near a thermal or updraft.  The air is moving upwards where moisture will condense and form or grow a cloud.  The glider can circle beneath the cloud while gaining altitude and moves about as fast as a slow moving car.\n\nWhen the soaring flight is over the wings are trimmed and the speed will depend on how far down the nose is pointed.  (Straight down would reach terminal velocity limited only by wind resistance and may destroy the glider.)  The licensed pilot has great control of the speed and can set it down almost at a running speed.  Elmira, NY is the Soaring Capital of the world and you can take a flight there for very little money.  Great fun.
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It follows Newton's law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  It's usually a wheeled vehicle that flings something backward in order to move forward.  The simplest type uses the jet of air escaping from an inflated balloon.
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Lift force depends on wing area, angle of attack, air density, airspeed, and several other parameters.  Google "aerodynamic lift" and see.  Happy landing.
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You can do a theoretical top speed with physics, but it wouldn't account for the two main killers of speed which are aerodynamic drag and internal friction.  Without knowing those, you'd only be getting a false promise from your calculations.
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lift vs drag which is basically the same principle as flight, but in the water it's called hydrodynamics.  the body is naturally buoyant, but the propulsion created by sculling/kicking forces the body to move in different directions.  for treading, that direction is toward the surface.
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This is related to Newton's law: An object in motion or at rest will stay in motion or at rest unless acted upon by an external force.\n\nTo elaborate, an object travelling in a straight line will keep on travelling in that straight line at a constant speed unless something acts on it.\n\nWhen you are in the car with your ball, everything in the car is travelling at the same speed, so you through the ball up and it comes straight back down. But if you throw the ball up and then jam on the cars brakes, the ball will keep moving at its original speed but the car is slowing down, so the ball would fly forward into the front windshield.\n\nLast point, if you throw the ball out the window, it will appear to fly backwards - It is just slowing down compared to the car because unlike the air inside the car, the air outside is at rest, so the ball will be flying through the air at a high speed and the wind drag will slow it quite rapidly.
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well, is a lot of different things that make the airplane take off and stay up there.\n\nThe body design " fuselage" I think is the word.\n\nMasive wings and tail wich give the plane lift, pitch and roll.\n\nPowerfull turbines. A turbine works by pulling the air from the front, accelerating it, heating it up and then spitting it back out from the back at a really really high speed rate.\n\nInside they have a crew, you know, pilot, co-pilot, and others.\n\nComputers, gps and all that good stuff.\n\nThere is also the tower that directs them and helps them take off.\n\nAnd you put all of those things together and that is preety much how is done.
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It helps planes fly because they have complicated hydraulics systems.  These systems do different things such as raise and lower the landing gear, open and close doors, move ailerons, elevators, the rudder, as well as flaps and other systems.  \n\nAnother thing, fluid is not only a liquid, gases are also considered to be fluids.  If there was no air, then planes couldn't fly because they would not be able to create lift.\n\nIn everyday life, you use hydraulics systems and may not even know it.  The brakes system as well as the power steering system on your car are both hydraulics systems.  Other fluids in your car include the water and oil, which both cool the engine and the oil does the essential lubricating of the engine.  \n\nRace cars?  Well, they have a brake system, which is hydraulically operated just like your car's.  Some of them have power steering, but not all of them do.  If they are circle track cars then they probably do, but most drag cars do not have power steering, as the power steering takes power from the engine.  All car engines have an oil lubrication system.  Circle track cars certainly have a water cooling system, although most drag cars don't.  They just fill the car up with water, but it doesn't have a water pump in it to circulate the water.\n\nHope this helps.
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How Thrust is Created\n\nA jet engine's one purpose is to create enough thrust to zip you and your luggage across the sky. What's thrust? It's power, the force that pushes you deep into your seat as you speed down the runway for takeoff.\n\nBasic Scientific Principles Behind Jet Propulsion\nNewton's Third Law of Motion\nFor every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thrust is created when air is pushed through a jet engine at a higher speed (velocity) than that of the air entering it. This force propels the plane forward. Imagine an inflated balloon that is released -- the pressurized, escaping air propels it forward.\n\nBernoulli's Principle\nFaster moving air exerts less pressure on surfaces than slower moving air.\nThe shape of the wing (an airfoil) is what allows the airplane to fly. The arched top of the wing forces air to travel faster and over a greater distance than air flowing across the flat bottom. The faster moving air exerts less pressure than the slower air on the bottom, thus creating lift. The blades of a propeller are also airfoils. The "lift" they generate pulls the plane forward.\n\nBoyle's Law\nThere is a relationship between a fixed amount of air's pressure and volume.\nWhen air is squeezed into a smaller volume Ð compressed Ð its pressure increases proportionally. Unless the temperature is held constant by external means, it will rise with pressure. In a jet engine, superheated, pressurized air is mixed with jet fuel and ignited.\n\nThe Basic Components\nIn its simplest form, a jet engine has three major components, called the core: \nCompressor: A series of blades or airfoils, some rotating (rotors) some stationary (stators), that draws air in and compresses it. More complex engines will have many rows of blades. As the air moves through these rows, its pressure will increase by as much as 40 times and the temperature will rise dramatically. \nCombustion Chamber: The compressed air is then pushed rearward into the combustion chamber. In the combustor, fuel injectors mix jet fuel with the air and it is ignited. The flow and burn of the air/fuel mixture is controlled to ensure that the engine sustains a continuous flame. The expanding exhaust gases flow quickly toward the rear of the engine. \nTurbines: The speeding gases that exit the combustor exert force against the turbine blades (airfoils), similar to the way a gust of wind spins a windmill. The turbine is connected to the compressor by a shaft. The force Ð or energy Ð created by the turbine spins the compressor, which pulls in more air, beginning the whole cycle again. The compressor is actually powered by the air it has already fed through! \nAll of these components are housed in a durable metal casing that is then installed into the nacelle, a megaphone-shaped engine enclosure that is mounted to the airplane's wing or fuselage (body).
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airplane wings work because of their curvature - the upper surface of the wing is more curved than the lower surface, so air moving over the top of the wing has to take a longer path.  \n\nthis longer path causes the air to thin out over the top surface of the wing, and this leads to a lower pressure on the top surface.  the higher-pressure air on the underside of the wing pushes the wing upwards into the lower-pressure region, just like the higher pressure inside a balloon pushes the balloon outwards into the lower-pressure atmosphere.\n\nanyway, i think you can think about a leaf on a windshield as acting like a wing of sorts.  air will flow faster over the upper surface of the leaf but stay trapped underneath.  if the leaf is solid, then the pressure differential pushes outward on the leaf, away from the windshield.  \n\non the other hand, if there is a slit in the leaf, then the higher-pressure air underneath can move through the slit and equalize the pressures, so there is less force on the leaf pushing it away from the windshield.\n\nas for holes, perhaps if the holes were big enough, you would no longer have the smooth ("laminar") flow over the surface, and instead get turbulent air that causes a vortex to form.  \n\nvortices are lower pressure areas so that might suck the leaf off.  or, a big hole might cause an edge of the leaf to flip up into the airstream and catch some of the air, forcing it down under the leaf and pushing it off the windshield - whereas a slit might still allow the air to flow smoothly over the leaf yet still equalize the pressure.\n\ni'm totally guessing, but i guess it's a reasonable theory.