Lesson: Forces of Flight (Elementary School)

In this lesson, students will identify and define the four forces of flight: weight (or gravity), lift, thrust and drag. Then they will demonstrate the forces and experiment with flight. The activity, an Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) lesson, uses the class set of balsa power planes provided by CAP to fifth-grade ACE teachers. They will see that a twisted rubber band is the "motor" that turns the propellers! The Forces of Flight is Academic Lesson #2 in the Grade 5 ACE Guide. Click here to go directly to the lesson.

Additional Resources:

NASA The Four Forces of Flight

Forces of Flight