Aeronautics

Aeronautics

Aeronautics (from Greek "aero" which means air or sky and "nautis" which means sailor, i.e. sailor of the air or sky) is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacture of flight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft. While the term—literally meaning "sailing the air"—originally referred solely to the science of "operating" the aircraft, it has since been expanded to include technology, business and other aspects related to aircraft.cite encyclopedia
title = Aeronautics
encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Americana
volume = 1
pages = 226
year = 1986
publisher = Grolier ] One of the significant parts in aeronautics is a branch of physical science called aerodynamics, which deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft. Aviation is a term sometimes used interchangeably with aeronautics, although "aeronautics" includes lighter-than-air craft such as airships, while "aviation" does not.

Early aeronautics

Before scientific investigation of aeronautics started, people started thinking of ways to fly. In a Greek legend, Icarus and his father Daedalus built wings of feathers and wax and flew out of a prison. Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and he fell in the sea and drowned. When people started to scientifically study how to fly, people began to understand the basics of air and aerodynamics. One of the earliest scientists to study aeronautics was Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo studied the flight of birds in developing engineering schematics for some of the earliest flying machines in the late fifteenth century AD. His schematics, however, such as the ornithopter ultimately failed as practical aircraft. The flapping machines that he designed were either too small to generate sufficient lift, or too heavy for a human to operate. Although the ornithopter continues to be of interest to hobbyists, it was replaced by the glider in the 19th century.

References

ee also

* Aerodynamics
* Aeronautical abbreviations
* Air safety
* Aircraft
* Aerospace engineering
* Aerostat
* Airsickness and airsickness bags
* Astronautics
* Hydrodynamics
* Hydrostatics
* Mechanics of fluids
* Spacecraft
* Aviation
*

External links

* [http://www.aeroclix.com/forum A community for the people working in the aeronautics]
* [http://www.literature.at/elib/index.php5?title=Aeronautics_History_-_Charles_Vivian_-_1920 Aeronautics History - Charles Vivian - 1920 (eLibrary Project - eLib full text)]
* [http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Aeronautics-and-Astronautics/index.htm Aerospace courses] at MIT OpenCourseWare
* [http://www.vtol.org American Helicopter Society]
* [http://www.aiaa.org American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]
* [http://www.aerodyndesign.com Examples of Aeronautic Designs]
* [http://world-airship2008.ru/08/content/?id=17#1eng What is aeronautics?] The history of world Aeronautics (Russian)

* [http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/AircraftDesign.html Aircraft Design: Synthesis and Analysis]


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  • aeronautics — (n.) 1824, from aeronautic (1784), from Fr. aéronautique, from aéro (see AERO (Cf. aero )) + nautique of ships, from L. nauticus, from Gk. nautikos (see NAUTICAL (Cf. nautical)). Originally of balloons. Also see ICS (Cf …   Etymology dictionary

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  • aeronautics — plural noun [usu. treated as sing.] the study or practice of travel through the air. Derivatives aeronautic adjective aeronautical adjective Origin C19: from mod. L. aeronautica matters relating to aeronautics , from Gk (see aeronaut) …   English new terms dictionary

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