A Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics! (Weekly Course)

In this 12-session course, meeting once a week, students will learn about aeronautics, aircraft design and aerodynamics. Have you ever wondered how airplanes fly? Airplanes, gliders and helicopters all stay midair due to the principles of the flight science called aeronautics. These include the physics concepts of Newton's laws of motion, aerodynamics, the motion of air, and Bernoulli's principle of lift. 

During the course, a variety of activities will bring aeronautical concepts to life, including interactive computer physics simulations, educational presentations, discussions and visualizations. Printable Homework Review Handouts will be provided after each class to summarize and reinforce learning. 

With the teacher's guidance, students will learn about the following topics over 12 sessions:

Session 1 - Intro to the field of Aeronautics and Newton's Laws of Motion
Session 2  - The Wright Brothers 
Session 3 - Beginners Guide to Jet Propulsion
Session 4 - Aerodynamics of Baseball and Bernoulli's Principle
Session 5  - Model Rockets and Real Rockets
Session 6  - Water Bottle Rockets and Aerodynamics 
Session 7  - Kites and Wind Tunnels
Session 8  - Aircraft Motion and Aerodynamics
Session 9  - Thrust, Weight, Lift and Drag
Session 10  -  Compressible Aerodynamics
Session 11  -  Guide to Hypersonics
Session 12  - Aerodynamics of multirotor drones. 

The course content will build from week to week, so if a class is missed, it is recommended to watch the Class Recordings which are automatically posted to the Classroom 1-2 hours after the live meeting is held. 

Note: The field of Aeronautics (dealing with flight in Earth's atmosphere) is a part of the field of Aerospace engineering, which covers both flight in Earth's atmosphere and in space.   

Teacher Expertise: This course is taught by Quantum Physics for Kids instructor Prof. Mark Baraket (M.S. Astrophysics UC Berkeley), an experienced astrophysics and aeronautics educator.