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3 Basic Concepts Every Aeronautical Engineer Must Know

Newton's laws of motion are essential concepts for aeronautical engineers. The first law describes how an aircraft persists in uniform motion unless acted on by forces like lift, drag, thrust, and weight. The second law explains how force equals mass times acceleration, allowing engineers to compute aircraft motion. The third law demonstrates that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, such as how lift is generated by air being deflected downwards and how jet engines produce thrust from exhaust gases pushing backwards.

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74 views2 pages

3 Basic Concepts Every Aeronautical Engineer Must Know

Newton's laws of motion are essential concepts for aeronautical engineers. The first law describes how an aircraft persists in uniform motion unless acted on by forces like lift, drag, thrust, and weight. The second law explains how force equals mass times acceleration, allowing engineers to compute aircraft motion. The third law demonstrates that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, such as how lift is generated by air being deflected downwards and how jet engines produce thrust from exhaust gases pushing backwards.

Uploaded by

vaishu1991
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© © All Rights Reserved
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3 Basic concepts every aeronautical engineer must know.

Newton’s first law-Inertia:


Every object persists in its state of uniform rest or uniform motion in a straight
line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.

Applied on airplane:
There are four major forces acting on an aircraft.

 Lift
 Drag
 Thrust
 Weight.

When flying at a constant altitude (cruising condition). There is no net force on the airplane and
it travels at a constant velocity in a straight line. (i.e)Lift=weight and thrust=drag.

When the pilot changes the thrust of the engine, the thrust and drag will become unbalanced.
The aircraft will move in the direction of greater force.

Newton’s second law-Force:


Force is equal to change in momentum per change in time. For a constant mass
force equals mass times acceleration.
F=m*a

Applied on airplane:
The motion of an aircraft resulting from aerodynamic forces, aircraft weight, and can be
computed by using the second law of motion.

Newton’s third law-Action and reaction:


For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Applied on airplane:
It helps to explain the generation of lift from an airfoil. Air, when deflected downwards by the
action of airfoil and in return, the wing pushed upwards.
A jet engine also works on the same principle. The engine produces hot exhaust gases, which
flow out the back of the engine. In reaction, a thrusting force produced in the opposite direction.

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