Day 10: Bernoulli's Principle

Teacher information:
This lesson focuses on Bernoulli's Principle. This principle states that for a uid
undergoing steady ow, the pressure is lower where the uid is owing faster. In this
lesson, the "uid" with which we are concerned is air. Fluids include liquids and gases
and air is a mixture of gases and therefore a liquid.
The rst activity has students making predictions to confront their own ideas about
airow and its effects. Most students, when asked what will happen when air is blown
between two suspended ping pong balls, will believe that the balls will y apart from
one another. Instead, the balls are drawn toward one another. Students then carry out
other activities with the Bernoulli principle and attempt to explain what happened in
the rst activity.
Air that is not moving pushes in all directions with equal force. Thus air is pushing
down on the top of a table top and up on the underside of the table. Moving air
however pushes to the side with less pressure; if a fan pushes air across the top of a
table the downward pressure on the table is reduced.
When a plastic ball is resting on your hand, air is pushing in on all sides of the ball
with the same force. As you start moving your hand (and the ball) into an air stream,
as students will in the second activity, there is reduced pressure on that side of the
ball. Move the ball far enough into the air stream and there is such a difference in
pressure that the still air on the back side of the ball pushes it off your hand and into
the air stream. The same thing is true of the ping pong ball in the funnel. The side of
the ball that is not being blown on has more air pressure so the ball moves that
direction.
Here are some other examples:
In a storm where the wind is blowing very hard, the pressure of the air inside a house
is higher than the pressure of the air blowing across it. This can lift the roof off of a
house.
If you are carrying a large sheet of plywood in the bed of a pickup truck, you may very
well want to watch it carefully, since the air moving past the truck is at a lower
pressure than the air trapped under the plywood, and it could be raised up high
enough to catch in the wind and be blown away.
Bernoulli Misconceptions
Many books use the Bernoulli principle to explain airplane ight. These explanations
show diagrams of airplane wings that are at on the underside, but convex on the
upper side. The diagrams typically show that air moving across the top of the wing
has a further distance to travel than air moving across the bottom of the wing, and
conclude that because air moving across the top of the wing must travel faster, the air
pressure on top of the wing is less than the air pressure on the bottom of the wing.
There are several problems with this idea:
1) Real airplane wings are rarely shaped as the diagrams show. Most airplane wings
are curved on both sides. In fact, in the case of delta-wing planes, the wings are
essentially at.
2) If the Bernoulli effect were all that held a plane up in the air, then what would
happen if a plane ew upside-down, as stunt planes sometimes do? The Bernoulli
model predicts that lower pressure on the surface of the wing that is normally the
upper surface would now be drawing the plane earthward, and it would fall out of the
sky. According to this model, upside-down ight is impossible!
3) In order to create enough lift to hold the plane in the air, very large planes would
have to have wings with highly convex surfaces. Yet we see that even wings of jumbo
jets are only slightly curved instead of resembling hills.
4) Each time the plane accelerated, the Bernoulli effect should cause it to rise
because of faster airow over the wing. Yet this doesn't happen.
While it's true that air does move over the wing and does create an airfoil effect, this
isn't enough of a force by itself to cause lift.
What contributes more substantially to lift is the force of the air diverted downward by
the wing. According to "How Airplanes Fly: A Physical Description of Lift" (http://
www.allstar.u.edu/aero/airylvl3.htm) the total lift of the wing is directly proportional to
the amount of the air diverted downward times the velocity of that air. If you think of a
helicopter blade as a long, thin wing, you know what happens when you stand under
it: you feel a massive rush of air downward! The equal and opposite reaction
(Newton's third law) pushes the helicopter up in the air. A wing "catches" air in a way
similar to how a sail catches air. The actual forces around an airplane wing are
complex, but the net effect is a downward rush of air. Pilots change their elevation (go
up or down) by changing the shape or angle of the wing, which changes the angle of
attack and increases or decreases the downward rush of air.
Objectives:
1. Students will be able to describe Bernoulli's Principle.
2. Students will be able to give examples of Bernoulli's Principle in toys and
technology.
Vocabulary:
Bernoulli's Principle: For a uid undergoing steady ow, the pressure is lower where
the uid is owing faster.
Materials needed for all activities:
Bernoulli Blower (or hand-held hair dryer)
various balls
10 ping pong or small styrofoam balls (one for each group)
5 funnels (one for each group)
alcohol wipes (to clean the funnel)
10 ring stands or other supports (2 for each group)
5 index cards (one for each group)
5 large wooden spools (one for each group)
5 straight pins (one for each group)
thread
string
tape
Activity 1: Kissing Ping Pong Balls
Materials needed (for each group):
two ping pong balls
lightweight string
thread
tape
two ring stands or other upright supports
Procedure:
1. Set up a demonstration model of the experiment. Tie a string between two ring
stands or other supports. The string should be taut and straight. Tape a piece of
thread to each of the ping pong balls and suspend them from the string so that they
are about one inch from each other. Test the demonstration set-up before using it.
2. Ask the students to predict what will happen when you blow in the space between
the two balls. Most students will predict that the balls will y apart from one another.
3. Blow in the space between the balls. The decreased air pressure caused by moving
air will draw the balls together.
4. Ask students if they can explain what happened.
5. Distribute the equipment to each group. Students should set up the same
apparatus and try the activity for themselves to see that it is not a trick and that they
can repeat the outcomes.
6. Before giving an explanation of what happened, have students carry out the other
activities in this unit so that they experience the Bernoulli effect in other ways. After
carrying out all activities, return to this one and ask students if they have developed
an explanation for the effect.
7. If students still have trouble explaining what happened, ask if they've ever been
riding in a car down a country highway and had a large truck rush past from the
opposite direction. If they have, they may have noticed that the car is sometimes
pulled toward the truck. As the car and truck rush past one another, the suddenly
narrowed gap between them causes the air to speed up. This lowers the air pressure,
and the car gets a strong tug. Ask the students to apply this to what they saw with the
ping pong balls.
Activity 2: Balls and Bernoulli
Materials needed:
Bernoulli Blower
various balls
Procedure:
1. Gather students around the blower. Turn on the blower. Let a student take a plastic
ball. Tell the student, "Rest one of the plastic balls in the palm of your hand. Now
slowly move your hand into the air stream." Have the students observe whether or not
the ball becomes stable in the air stream. Repeat this procedure with a few different
sizes and weights of balls.
2. Explain: Air that is not moving pushes in all directions with equal force, so air is
pushing down on the top of a table top and up on the underside of the table. Moving
air, however, pushes to the side with less pressure; if a fan pushes air across the top
of a table the downward pressure on the table is reduced.
When the plastic ball is resting on your hand, air is pushing in on all sides of the ball
with the same force. As you start moving your hand (and the ball) into the air stream,
there is reduced pressure on that side of the ball. Move the ball far enough into the air
stream and there is such a difference in pressure that the still air on the back side of
the ball pushes it off your hand and into the air stream.
Note: This activity can also be done with a ping pong ball and an hand-held hair dryer.
Activity 3: Ping Pong Balls and Funnels
Materials needed (for each group):
ping pong or small styrofoam ball
large funnel
alcohol wipes (to clean the funnel)
Procedure:
1. Explain to the students that they will now see an example of Bernoulli's Principle in
action. In the last activity they learned how moving air creates less pressure. Here
they can experience this principle up close.
2. Divide the class into groups of three to four students each.
3. Give each group a ping pong ball, a funnel, and a few alcohol wipes.
4. Instruct the students to place the ping pong ball into the funnel. One student in each
group should now blow through the hole in the bottom of the funnel to try to blow the
ping pong ball out of the funnel. Try as they might, they shouldn't be able to blow the
ball out of the funnel.
5. Now tell the students to blow very hard over the top of the funnel. Some of them
may be able to blow hard enough to blow the ball out of the funnel. If not, they should
at least notice that the ball jumps up the side of the funnel.
6. Have the students clean off the end of the funnel and let the next person in their
group try. Continue until each student has had a chance to blow through and over the
funnel.
Note: if the funnel is too small, and the students have strong lungs, they can usually
pop the ball out of the funnel easily. Try this activity rst and nd funnels that are the
right size.
Activity 4: Stubborn Card
Materials needed (for each group):
wooden spool (or plastic spool with all holes taped except the center one)
index card
straight pin
alcohol wipes
Procedure:
1. Explain to the students that they will now see another example of Bernoulli's
Principle in action. Push a pin through the center of an index card, then put the card
against the spool, with the pin inside of the spool's center hole. Ask students to predict
what will happen if you blow through the hole.
2. Hold the card against the spool and blow through the hole. Slowly let go of the card.
So long as you blow, the card will stay in place.
3. Give each group a ping pong ball, a funnel, and a few alcohol wipes.
4. Hand out supplies to each group so that the groups can try the activity themselves.
Let each group member try the activity. Have the students clean off the end of the
spool with an alcohol wipe before the next person tries.
Wrap-up:
Let students draw pictures or write about Bernoulli's Principle.
Do the word nd activity that includes words from all the lessons in this unit.
Resources:
Ostdiek, Vern J. and Bord, Donald J. Inquiry Into Physics: Third Edition; West
Publishing Company, 1995. pp 163164.
Craig, Gail M. Stop Abusing Bernoulli!: How Airplanes Really Fly. Regenerative Press,
1998.
Stepans, Joseph. Targeting Students' Science Misconception: Physical Science
Activities Using the Conceptual Change Model. The Idea Factory, 1994.
How Airplanes Fly: A Physical Description of Lift. All Star Network website: <http://
www.allstar.u.edu/aero/airylvl3.htm>
C R K O F S N O E L V A N A R
M H O O E E W G Q E C I O I W
O U R T W L A K L C C T I L R
M C I T A L I O E I G R T E E
E M O D E V C L T A R E A R D
N N W S I I E E A M E N T O D
T U U I T R N L L G A I O N U
U F U Y A I J L E O O D R H R
M X X T K Z M F R I C T I O N
N O I T O M S S A M T Y A U W
O O G R A V I T Y O I S T I E
N I L L U O N R E B J V R Z I
E N E R G Y J C I T S A L E G
C P O Z P C C N Y P C X L G H
C K U X F C B O H X Q W F V T
The Physics of Toys
ACCELERATION AILERON BERNOULLI
ELASTIC ELEVATOR ENERGY
FORCE FRICTION FUSELSGE
GALILEO GRAVITY INERTIA
KINETIC MASS MOMENTUM
MOTION NEWTON ROTATION
RUDDER VELOCITY WEIGHT
C R K O F S N O E L V A N A R
M H O O E E W G Q E C I O I W
O U R T W L A K L C C T I L R
M C I T A L I O E I G R T E E
E M O D E V C L T A R E A R D
N N W S I I E E A M E N T O D
T U U I T R N L L G A I O N U
U F U Y A I J L E O O D R H R
M X X T K Z M F R I C T I O N
N O I T O M S S A M T Y A U W
O O G R A V I T Y O I S T I E
N I L L U O N R E B J V R Z I
E N E R G Y J C I T S A L E G
C P O Z P C C N Y P C X L G H
C K U X F C B O H X Q W F V T
The Physics of Toys
ACCELERATION AILERON BERNOULLI
ELASTIC ELEVATOR ENERGY
FORCE FRICTION FUSELSGE
GALILEO GRAVITY INERTIA
KINETIC MASS MOMENTUM
MOTION NEWTON ROTATION
RUDDER VELOCITY WEIGHT
Key Key