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From Icarus to the Wright Brothers: What is the journey of mankind's dream of flying?
Humanity's dream of flying has lasted for thousands of years. From Icarus in ancient Greek mythology to the Wright brothers in the early 20th century, our flying technology has experienced significant evolution. Every dream chaser hopes to break through gravity and explore the endless sky. This article will review this exciting journey, revealing the scientific and technical challenges inherent in flight, and how this was achieved through continuous exploration and innovation.
However, we can find from ancient books that early humans began to explore and think about flight.
As early as BC, ancient Greek legends described mankind's dream of flying. Under the guidance of his father Daedalus, Icarus used feathers and wax to make wings and flew towards the sun. However, when he got too close to the sun, his wings melted and fell. This story became a symbol of mankind's dream of flight. This legend illustrates the dangers of flight and responds to human curiosity. Humanity's curiosity about aerial flight has gone through observation and reflection until opportunities for scientific progress and technological innovation arrived.
From theory to practice, the efforts and dedication of scientists have turned the dream of flying into a reality.
In the 17th century, with the rise of the scientific revolution, preliminary research on fluid dynamics began to show scientists' enthusiasm for flight mechanics. Isaac Newton first appeared with his theory of air resistance, which laid the foundation for subsequent principles of flight. Daniel Bernoulli's "Fluid Mechanics" further revealed the basic relationship between pressure, density and flow velocity. This principle is still used to calculate the lift of aircraft. Later, Leonhard Euler developed the more general Euler equation, laying the theoretical foundation for fluid dynamics.
As the times evolve, scientists continue to explore the potential of flight. In the 19th century, George Kelly first identified the four forces of flight: gravity, lift, drag and thrust, and revealed the relationship between them, which pointed the way for subsequent flight development.
The fusion of science and engineering has gradually shaped mankind’s dream of flying.
In 1871, Francis Herbert Wenham built the first wind tunnel, which enabled a number of aerodynamic-related experiments to be conducted and allowed scientists to accurately measure the forces of flight. In 1889, French inventor Charles Renard reasonably predicted the energy required for sustained flight, which provided a basis for establishing a power model for aircraft. Later, Otto Liliendar successfully achieved gliding flight and became the first genius to make a significant contribution to flight. Finally, the Wright brothers successfully flew on December 17, 1903, marking the first powered flight in human history.
The success of the first flight inspired countless people's enthusiasm for flying. Scientists and engineers began to think about how to improve the performance of the aircraft and even further break the sound barrier. As the flight speed increased, the problems of compressed flow and turbulence gradually became apparent, which troubled many designers and pilots until the Bell X-1 was used to break the sound barrier in 1947.
As time goes by, flying has become the intersection of technology and dreams.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of computational fluid dynamics, we can already design the entire aircraft through computer simulation and conduct wind tunnel experiments based on the simulation results. As the understanding of supersonic and hypersonic speeds deepens, the design and engineering challenges of aircraft remain constant. Researchers continue to explore the interaction of objects in complex flow fields to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of current aircraft and benefit future flight technology and innovation.
However, the journey of flight is not only driven by technology, but also lies in mankind's eternal desire and pursuit of the sky. Where can human dreams take us?
