An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or through any other atmosphere. Rocket vehicles are not aircraft if they are not supported by the surrounding air. All the human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation.
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Aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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Heavier-than-air aircraft must find some way to push air or gas downwards, so that a reaction occurs (by Newton's laws of motion) to push the aircraft upwards. This dynamic movement through the air is the origin of the term aerodyne. There are two ways to produce dynamic upthrust: aerodynamic lift, and powered lift in the form of engine thrust. Aerodynamic lift is the most common, with aeroplanes being kept in the air by the forward movement of wings, and rotorcraft by spinning wing-shaped rotors sometimes called rotary wings. A wing is a flat, horizontal surface, usually shaped in cross-section as an aerofoil. To fly, the wing must move forwards through the air; this movement of air over the aerofoil shape deflects air downward to create an equal and opposite upward force, called lift, according to Newton's third law of motion. A flexible wing is a wing made of fabric or thin sheet material, often stretched over a rigid frame. A kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the speed of the wind over its wings, which may be flexible or rigid, fixed or rotary. With powered lift, the aircraft directs its engine thrust vertically downwards. The initialism VTOL (vertical take off and landing) is applied to aircraft that can take off and land vertically. Most are rotorcraft. Others, such as the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, take off and land vertically using powered lift and transfer to aerodynamic lift in steady flight. Similarly, STOL stands for short take off and landing. Some VTOL aircraft often operate in a short take off/vertical landing regime known as STOVL. A pure rocket is not usually regarded as an aerodyne, because it does not depend on the air for its lift (and can even fly into space), however many aerodynamic lift vehicles have been powered or assisted by rocket motors. Rocket-powered missiles which obtain aerodynamic lift at very high speed due to airflow over their bodies, are a marginal case.
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Number of planes - Monoplane, biplane, etc. Wing support - Braced or cantilever, rigid or flexible. Wing planform - including aspect ratio, angle of sweep and any variations along the span. Includes the important class of delta wings. Location of the horizontal stabiliser, if any. Dihedral angle - positive, zero or negative (anhedral). A variable geometry aircraft can change its wing configuration during flight. A flying wing has no fuselage, though it may have small blisters or pods. The opposite of this is a lifting body which has no wings, though it may have small stabilising and control surfaces.
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Aerodynamics of Animals - Bats - Intermediate - 0 views
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Bats are fantastic fliers. They are able to truly fly. Bats are the only mammals able to have powered flight.
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A bat's body is made for flight. The neck is short, the chest is large and the stomach is narrow. In order to fly a body must have a wide, thin surface. It also needs the power to push through the air.
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The wings act like webbed hands. The bat can move its wings like we move our fingers. Bats fold one of their wings to steer and brake.
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Bats live in barns, attics, and caves. They like anyplace that is cold and dark. They usually live in small groups. But their colony size can be in the 1,000's.
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Tropical bats can transfer pollen as they fly from plant to plant. They digest bananas, mangoes, guavas, and berries in 20 minutes. The seeds of the fruit are dropped by the bats as they are flying. This reseeds large areas of land.
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There are people who think that bats are dirty and evil. Bats are very clean and groom their wings and teeth daily. Some even believe that Count Dracula turns into a bat. This is not true. Bats are very helpful to man and our environment.
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Bat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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A measure of the success of bats is their estimated total of about 1,100 species worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent of all mammal species.
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History Who Really Invented the Airplane Part 1 - Trivia-Library.com - 0 views
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Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying machine in the 15th century, and by the 19th century men were airborne in hot-air balloons, gliders, and huge kites.
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And so, at the end of the 19th century, enthusiasts around the world joined in the race to invent the first flying machine.
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In the early 1870s he created an ornithopter, an engine to which was attached flapping wings, but it failed to fly
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In order to fly, he decided, a machine must have fixed wings and an engine capable of lifting it off the ground
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Chiroptera - 0 views
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One unique feature of bats is their modified forelimbs, which support a wing membrane (patagium). The basic elements of the mammalian limb are present in bats, although the relative sizes of most bones and muscles differ from those of nonflying mammals. The most elongated parts of the limb are those of the hand (metacarpal bones) and fingers (phalanges). The primary functions of these bones in bats is to provide support for the patagium and control its movements.
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Numerous blood vessels and nerves are present throughout the wing membrane. Bats also have five unique muscles present in the patagium, and use additional muscles in the chest and back to move the wings up and down.
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The most obvious difference between bird wings and those of bats is that bird wings are made of feathers, not a skin membrane. Birds have an elongated arm, but do not have elongated fingers like bats. Additionally, the muscles used in both the upstroke and downstroke are found in the chest of birds, while the upstroke muscles are on the back in bats (Fenton, 1983).
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The orientation of the hindlimb is also unique to bats. The hip joint is rotated 90° so that the legs project sideways and the knee faces almost backwards. Due in part to the rotation of the hindlimb, the walking motion of bats differs from other tetrapods, often appearing awkward. The hindlimb is designed to support the patagium in flight and allow the bat to roost hanging from its hindlimbs. Most bats have a tendon system in the toes that locks the claws in place so the bat can hang upside down even when asleep.
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The body of a bat is ventrally compressed with a short neck region. The bones tend to be slender and light-weight. The majority of the body weight is concentrated in the chest region due to the large flight muscles.
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The overall shape of the head varies more in bats than within most other groups of mammals. Some bats have very elongated muzzles while others have broad, short faces. There is a correlation between the shape of the head and the type of food eaten. For example, most nectar feeders have long, narrow muzzles that are good for reaching into flowers, while many fruit eaters have short, broad faces good for biting rounded fruits (Hill and Smith, 1984).
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The ears range from small and round to large and pointed, and often have a cartilaginous fold (tragus) present at the notch of the ear. There is additional variation in the nasal and lip regions of bats. Some bats have complex noseleafs, folds, or wrinkles on their muzzles.
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A major misconception about bats is that they are blind. This idea originated from the fact that bats are able to successfully maneuver in the dark and often have small eyes. While some bats do have very small eyes (most Microchiroptera) many have large and complex eyes (Megachiroptera).
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Bats usually have black or brown fur, although the fur can also be gray, white, red, or orange. In some species there are stripes on the face or down the back, or patches of white on the face or above the shoulder. The length of the fur also varies among species from short and dense to long and fluffy. The wing membrane is usually dark in color, although it may have white on the tips or be a lighter color around the bones in the membrane. A few bats have white or pale yellow wings. There are also little hairs on the membrane itself. These hairs can be the color of the wing or the same color as the body.
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The bat monophyly hypothesis states the Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera are each others closest relatives in an evolutionary sense (i.e., they form a clade).
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REENGINEERING THE AIR FORCE FOR THE JET AND SPACE AGE - 0 views
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History Who Really Invented the Airplane Part 3 - Trivia-Library.com - 0 views
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In 1897 he flew in a balloon for the first time and thereafter became one of the foremost balloonists in France.
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In 1905 he built an airplane consisting of three box kites connected to each other by bamboo poles, powered by a steam engine.
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Orville and Wilbur Wright, the sons of a midwestern minister, displayed a high mechanical aptitude even in their youth. This, coupled with investigative natures, made Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912) ideal inventors. By their early twenties they had built a printing press and designed a new bicycle, which they also manufactured. They became interested in flight by reading about the glider experiments of German aerialist Otto Lilienthal.
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By December of 1903, the brothers were back at Kitty Hawk with their first powered airplane, a double-winged, box kite-shaped contraption with an undercarriage attached to a stationary monorail track. On Dec. 17 Orville stretched out in the middle of the lower wing and took off on a 12-sec., 120-ft. flight. That same day, Wilbur flew for 59 sec., covering 852 ft.
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Chiroptera - 0 views
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Despite their resemblance to rodents, bats are not closely related to mice at all. Though their exact placement is still uncertain, there is recent evidence that they may be more closely related to the primates.
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ADW: Bat Wings and Tails - 0 views
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They give the order Chiroptera its name (literally, "hand-wing"), and functional wings and true flight are characteristics of all bats.
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The wing membrane is an extension of the skin of the body. It is made up of external epidermis and an internal layer of dermis, which contains blood vessels (easily seen in a live bat when the wing is stretched in front of a light) and muscles.
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All About Bats - 0 views
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Bats are one of the most prolific forms of mammals with over 900 species living in the world and making up over 20% of all mammals.
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Bats like to come out to eat at night around dusk. Bats flight pattern is much more erratic than birds so look for this pattern.
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History Who Really Invented the Airplane Part 2 - Trivia-Library.com - 0 views
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Ader kept working to perfect his airplane, and finally, with the financial backing of the French Army, he built Avion III, a flying machine similar in design to the Eole but with a longer wingspan and two four-blade propellers. On Oct. 14, 1897, Ader tested his Avion at Satory with a military observer team present. Ader claimed that that day he had again flown, but three witnesses disagreed with each other about whether Ader actually took off and flew the Avion before it crashed.
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This 30-lb. craft with a steam engine flew for 1 min. 20 sec. at an altitude of 70 to 100 ft. for a distance of 3,000 ft.
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It was the first successful flight of an unmanned heavier-than-air flying machine. Langley's Aerodrome Number 6 had mechanical problems that day, but it flew 4,200 ft. in November of 1896.
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In 1898, at President William McKinley's instigation, the U.S. Army awarded Langley $50,000 to develop a plane that would carry a man aloft. In December, 1903, nine days before the Wrights' test at Kitty Hawk, Langley tried out his new gasoline-powered experimental model. A mishap with the catapult caused the airplane to plunge to the bottom of the Potomac, and Langley gave up his experiments after being criticized by the press for the great expense to the taxpayers.
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Despite Drop in CD Sales, Music Industry Is Upbeat - washingtonpost.com - 0 views
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rising revenue from songs and albums bought on the Internet failed to offset the consumer flight from CDs.
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The music industry has blamed piracy for the dive in CD sales and began suing downloaders and the file-sharing services in retaliation in 2003
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resumed in 2005 and hit its lowest point in more than a decade last year, when music companies shipped $9.2 billion in CDs.
The Wright Brothers - The First Flight of an Airplane - 0 views
Airliners.net | Airplanes - Aviation - Aircraft- Aircraft Photos & News - 0 views
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Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research
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For instance some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals
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apan is the world's largest producer of automobiles[73] and home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers and seven of the world's twenty largest semiconductor sales leaders as of today.
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It is a participant in the International Space Station and the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) is slated to be added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008.