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Multidisciplinary
Design, Analysis, and
Optimization Branch
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EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: THE NASA AEROQUIZ
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Week of 8/4/97:
Q:
What's the brightest star in the sky? Yes, this is a trick question,
and there are three answers we can think of.
A:
The brightest star in the sky is, obviously, our sun. But its brightness
is only due to its proximity to Earth. Discounting the sun (which many
people don't often think of as a star), the next brightest star is Sirius,
in the constellation Canis Major. But its brightness is also only due to its
proximity to Earth (about nine light years). Possibly the brightest stars,
or at least the brightest we know of, are the stars of 30 Doradus
in the Large Magellanic cloud, a huge cluster of the brightest, hottest,
most short-lived stars known.
No one answered correctly!
- The Aeroquiz Editor
Week of 8/11/97:
Q:
The very first wartime air-to-air combat victory, interestingly enough,
did not involve the use of guns. What happened?
A:
Bombs were used.
Congratulations to Joe Wickenheiser.
On June 7, 1915, Royal Air Force pilot Reggie Warneford was flying a
Morane Parasol with no guns of any kind. He did, however, have six 20-pound
bombs, which he dropped on top of the hydrogen-filled German L.37 Zeppelin
dirigible over Ghent. The Zeppelin's helmsman jumped from the burning wreckage at
about two hundred feet, crashed through the roof of a convent, and landed in
an unoccupied bed, suffering only minor injuries. He was said to have opened
a beer hall after the war, where for years he told of his adventure.
- The Aeroquiz Editor
Week of 8/18/97:
Q:
While training for the Apollo-Soyuz mission in the Soviet Union in 1975,
astronauts Slayton, Brand, and Stafford found they could get a lot of
amenities at their hotel near Moscow by "manipulating the system." The Soviets
provided them with extra towels, soap, a pool table, and some great
Czech beer. In what unique way did they do this?
No one got the following answer:
A:
Their hotel rooms were bugged. The astronauts discovered that they
could get a lot of amenities by simply asking the walls.
Week of 8/25/97:
Q:
Two objects of different masses are dropped simultaneously from the same
height. Assuming that the force of air resistance acting on each mass is constant and
identical (which, in many cases, is not a good assumption),
will they reach the ground at the same time?
A:
The heavier one will hit first.
Congratulations to R. DeLombard.
Although it's tempting to say they will hit simultaneously (as many of us
learned in basic physics), the heavier
mass will hit first. The heavier mass has a greater net force acting on it
(i.e., its weight less the drag force), resulting in a greater acceleration.
- The Aeroquiz Editor.
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