Hello!
How are you? The picture above is of the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. It set a record for flying around the world in a little under 77 hours, at the highest average speed for an aircraft without inflight refueling at 551/kmph.
Quite impressive, isn't it? But for its performance, it isn't the largest or most powerful aircraft ever built. Just how large is it - for example, its length?
Today, let's look more at how to accurately measure some examples of works of engineering.
Activity/homework
Look at the pictures below. Search out the measurements of these examples of engineering in terms of the following:
- overall length
- overall height
- width (in various parts)
Important notes:
With aircraft - remember for your measurements to find out not only the overall length and overall height, but the maximum cabin width and fuselage width as well, plus the wingspan.
With bridges - find out not only the overall length, but also the height of the tallest support from the ground. You also need the width, plus thickness, of the decks. In addition, you need the maximum span between the supports.
With buildings - search out not only the overall height, but the width of the base of the buildings at their thickest plus average width of the building if this is different from the base. Find out as well what the length of any structures are that might be on the building (such as towers at the top) plus the length and width of any structures such as elevated walkways or bridges from the building (if they exist).
Let's start! Note these measurements in your notebooks (and hand in next class if we do this as homework)!
1. Queen Mary 2
2. The Concorde
3. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
4. Tianjin Grand Bridge, China
5. Rainbow Bridge
I hope you can find some useful information that perhaps might surprise you about these aircraft and other structures.
NEW! Here are the board notes for our class today on 5/31:
See you next time!
Images: Top - by Alan Radecki Akradecki - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2940912/Queen Mary 2 - by أشرف العناني from alshekh zwaed, egypt - Queen Mary II ship Crosses Suez Canal الملكة كوين ماري الثانية أضخم سفينة سياحية في العالم تعبر قناة السويس, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50547512/Concorde - by Alexander Jonsson - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-France/Aerospatiale-British-Aerospace-Concorde/0432634/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16590988/Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building - by Kakidai - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19529189/Tianjin Grand Bridge, China - by Wuyouyuan - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6938813/Rainbow Bridge - by Javachan - Shot by Wikipedia user javachanTransferred from English Wikipedia; en:File:Rainbow Bridge,Tokoyo Bay from Odaiba.jpgTransfered by Gobonobo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17916431/Board notes - personal photographs. All rights reserved on personal photographs.
