Aerodynamics means dynamics of air as the name suggests. Aerodynamics is the study of flow of air around an object. Where there is an atmosphere there is air. Like our planet earth there is atmosphere in Mars, Venus and other planets. Aerodynamics is an important field for aeronautics and aerospace engineering.

The basic concept for working of aerodynamics consists of 4 forces. These forces are Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag. All these forces come into play when any object is in the air. Lift balances the weight of the object. So any body when it is in air either flying or thrown upward these two forces act in the perpendicular direction. Lift is in the opposite direction of weight and both forces balance each other when any object is flying. Lift in an airplane is generated by the wings.

Flying Airplane

Thrust and drag are the two forces which act parallel to the flying object. Thrust makes any flying object to gain forward motion or we can say to oppose the drag force. When any object is moving forward there is an equal and opposite force generated and that is the drag. So we can say that in order to move forward we need to overcome drag and this is achieved by engines of airplanes which produce the thrust.

A bird’s wing generates both lift and thrust in order to balance its weight and drag force and fly.

Flying bird