Monday, November 2, 2009

Journal by Derek, 2 Nov 2009



The glider's weight is about 10 grams. A much heavier glider will fly perfectly yet faster.
A much lighter glider may fail to fly correctly because it will fly too slowly. Indeed a too low airspeed changes the way the air moves around the wing Solutions for low speeds can be to use turbulators(a device for improving the flow of air over a wing), to increase the wing chord and/or to use flatter wings.
A friend was afraid to throw the glider so I made a copy of it for him, much lighter, out of very thin balsa sheets. It flies correctly but clearly I reached the limit. A lighter version would need either turbulators or a longer wing chord.Heavier-faster version of this glider is not supposed to fly farther than a lighter-slower version. Speed does not imply distance. There will be differences in flight distance between faster and slower versions but they are not supposed to be tremendous.



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