1 - Aerodynamics: What Is It?

Summary

Aerodynamics … the branch of dynamics that treats of the motion of air and other gaseous fluids and of the forces acting on bodies in motion relative to such fluids.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary

As you read these words, around the world there are thousands of airplanes in flight through the earth's atmosphere. We take such things for granted; the airplane is a fixture in our everyday life. However, it will be informative to pause for a moment to consider that these aircraft are miracles of modern engineering wherein many diverse fundamental laws of nature are applied and combined in a useful fashion so as to produce safe and efficient flying machines. Some of these fundamental laws involve the science of aerodynamics, without which modern flight would be impossible. Indeed, an airplane flying overhead typifies the laws of aerodynamics in action, and we often forget that only two centuries ago these laws were so little known or so misunderstood that no one had been able to build a flying machine that could lift off the ground, let alone fly long distances.

Why were the principles of aerodynamics considered so mysterious, and why was it so difficult to develop them into an applied science? What happened over the centuries in various fields of science that finally resulted in the discipline of aerodynamics? What were the driving forces that focused human thought on the idea of a flying machine? These and many other questions about the evolution of aerodynamics are addressed in this book. Aerodynamics is a beautifully intellectual discipline, incorporating elements from a millennium of human thought that finally coalesced during the nineteenth century to produce the exponential growth in powered flight that we see today.

The story of aerodynamics is itself dynamic, replete with smashing successes, abject failures, and intense human competitions that have had major social, economic, and political consequences.