Re: Physics of Flight; air deflection

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Fri, 13 Aug 1999, John Denker wrote:

> > It also is clear to me that the idea of "circulation" is
> > valid and also helps the analysis at some level.
>
> Right.  IMHO it is indispensible at every level beyond the second-grade level.

Perhaps it is because of my weak ability to grasp physics concepts, but
the idea of "circulation" did not help me to understand aircraft until I
was well past the college level.

I see circulation as a topic more appropriate for post-highschool.  To
fill the intervening years, we can employ the action/reaction paradigm.
Even that would be a demanding task for many highschool students, to say
nothing of 3rd-graders!

Obviously this involves the old controversy about "how can we simplify it
without making it WRONG?"  I must note that an alternate question exists:

   "How can we simplify it without creating serious misconceptions which
    block future learning?"


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