When I first started teaching at PCS, Pat McShane ( the grizzled founder ) had a standing offer for the students: A $1000 dollars to the student who could make LEGO® BRICKS fly ( short of chucking them into the air ). It had to be controlled sustained flight to claim the reward!
And I have seen team after team of students come up with different solutions. Probably the best were
the team of Mikes and Matts in Nampa who built a robotic frame that would be attached to a weather balloon! The stumbling block proved to be filling the 15' tall surplus balloon. The KINGS nearby promised to fill any balloon for a flat $2.00 fee ( for birthdays etc ). The manager had to run from the other end of the store to prevent the clerk from filling the LEGO® BRICK Blimp!
In any case, the prize always proved a wonderful starting point to discuss aerodynamics!
For example, if I strap an Estes D rocket engine onto a LEGO® BRICKS brick and ignite it...can I truly
claim "controlled sustained flight?"
Of course we all know about that wacky Bernouilli guy...and the four forces of flight ( quick, what are they? ). ( For some pointers I suggest picking up David Macaulay's THE WAY THINGS WORK and check out the section on flying! ) Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had some way to easily test LEGO® BRICKS aerodynamics?
Well my students thought so...and built a wind tunnel to do it! Wind tunnels are marvelously easy to create. I recommend the plans out of THE CLASSIC COLLECTION: MODEL ROCKETRY, (Estes, 1988 widely available in hobby stores). It has a step by step plan for building a wind tunnel
(originally put out in 1963!). My students built it for less than $20.00 (we did scavenge the squirrel cage motors from old printers and washer drives!).
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