Customer Reviews

Introduction to Aerodynamics

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What everyone needs to remember is that all of classical physics are based on Newton's Laws of Motion. While energy and momentum are different, they are intimately related. While you can change the momentum of an object, without changing its energy, and you can change the energy of an object without changing its momentum....You Need a source of energy to affect a change in momentum, and you need a source of momentum to change the energy. The total momentum of a gun/bullet system is zero. However, the bullet does not just fly out of the gun on its own. It takes the release of energy in the gunpowder to change the momentum of the BULLET, while the momentum of the gun changes in the opposite direction.

Mr Craig does a great job re-stating that Newtonian Mechanics is what physics is based on. Even in advanced engineering text, Bernoulli's Equation is derived from F=MA. F=MA applied to a fluid element leads to the Euler equation, which when integrated comes out to Bernoulli's equation. Again, in advanced engineering books it is often stated that Euler applied Newtonian Mechanics to fluids. Another thing to remember is that there is only two ways for a fluid medium to communicate forces to object imersed in it...pressure and friction. Regardless of how complex the flow field, these are the only two ways nature has of generating forces...Forces which obey obviously Newton's Laws. Craig at no time tries to discredit Bernoulli's Principle, all he does is show that its roots lay in Newtonian Mechanics, which is what advanced engineering text also do. This book is an excellent, common sense, practical approach to flight theory.

I have read quite a few aero books and while these sometime explain aspects of aerodynamics like lift, drag, etc in an understandable manner, this book is the only one that I found that explains aero actions and phenomenon using simple and basic force/pressure and acceleration concepts (Newtons Laws). Moreover the author ties it all together with a string of simply basic concepts using real airplane examples. No matter if you are going to be a weekend flyer, an astronaut or an aspiring aircraft designer, this book will truly offer you the understanding to fly into the future.

This book is one of the few books on this subject at all, dealing with aerodinamics on this specific level in that way, as it should be done. Time has come to stop bad teaching as it is done in most of todays books on the market.Student pilots and the rest of the comunity deserve to learn the truth on the laws of nature.
Mr. Craig, well done.
Gigafriend

Aerodynamics (and fluid mechanics in general) is a complicated and counter-intuitive field of science. Not surprisingly, most people simply cannot understand it well, since it requires advanced technical knowledge to do so.

The author of this book has done a superb job of explaining many aspects of this complicated field in terms that a reasonably well-educated lay person can understand. If you're interested in flight, or simply like learning new things, and are comfortable with high-school level science and math and critical thinking, you will likely enjoy this book.

I would say this book is also likely to be helpful to beginning aerodynamics or fluid mechanics college students. It will help you to develop an internal mental picture and intuitive feel for some of the complex phenomena in these fields.

The book provides a great foundation in aerodynamics principles and theory for aeronautical engineers. The book is well organized and well written with clear and easy to follow explanations.

I recommend every aerodynamicist to keep a copy in your library for reference purposes.