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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 7/6/98:
Q:
Why is a modern aircraft fuselage like a Gothic cathedral?
Yes, the famous European Gothic cathedrals with vaulted stone ceilings
and flying buttresses!
A:
They are both examples of stiffened, thin-shelled structures. In most
modern aircraft fuselages, internal "stringers" and other stiffeners deal
with longitudinal loads, while the skin supplies the necessary torsional
stiffness. In a Gothic cathedral, the relatively thin stone walls are
the structure's "skin." The major load in a cathedral is a lateral thrust
produced by the weight of the vaulted stone ceiling. That load is dealt
with by structural stiffeners: the elegant flying buttresses. Unlike
today's aircraft structures, the 12th and 13th century cathedrals were
designed and built without the aid of modern mathematical analysis -- a
truly remarkable engineering feat.
No one got the correct answer!
- The Aeroquiz Editor
Week of 7/13/98:
Q:
Peregrine falcons dive at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour, striking
their prey with traumatic force. Their diving speed potentially makes
the falcon the fastest animal on the planet, and faster than the diving
speeds of many airplanes. Amazingly, they dive at speeds faster than their
terminal velocity. How?
A:
They power themselves downward by flicking their wings as they fall.
No one got the correct answer!
- The Aeroquiz Editor
Week of 7/20/98:
Q:
The U.S. expression "the whole 9 yards" may have come from the world
of aircraft. What was its specific origin?
A:
Although there are indications this explanation may be an "urban legend,"
the expression may have originated with World War II fighter pilots in the
South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet before being loaded into the
fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole
9 yards."
No one got the correct answer!
- The Aeroquiz Editor
Week of 7/27/98:
Q:
Near the end of his Apollo 14 moon walk, Al Shepard attached a 6-iron
club to the end of a sample collecting tool, hit two golf balls, and became
the first person to golf on the moon. Although his bulky space suit forced
him to take awkward, one-handed swings, he joked that the second ball
traveled "miles and miles." If he wasn't encumbered by a suit and was able
to get "good wood" on the ball, could he have taken advantage of the
moon's low gravity and no atmosphere and put the ball into orbit?
Assume he could hit it tangentially to the horizon, avoid mountains, put
it into a circular crater-top level orbit, and achieve a record-setting
250 foot-per-second club speed!
No one got the correct answer. The question stands another week!
- The Aeroquiz Editor
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