Sept ember 2004 51 51 51 51 51

Paul G. Hewi tt
Principle
Bernoullis
Understanding
Bernoullis principle
as it applies to
aerodynamic lift
everal physics teachers Ive recently spoken with say
their understanding of Bernoullis principle is unclear,
particularly when the principle is applied to aerody-
namic lift. Some teachers favor using Newtons laws instead
of Bernoullis principle to explain the physics behind lift.
Some also consider Bernoullis principle too difficult to ex-
plain to students and avoid teaching it altogether. The fol-
lowing simplified treatment of the principle ignores most of
the complexities of aerodynamics and hopefully will encour-
age teachers to bring Bernoulli back into the classroom.
S
Sept ember 2004 51 51 51 51 51
Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782)
The Sci ence Teacher 52 52 52 52 52
Understanding Bernoulli
Bernoullis principle states that when an incompress-
ible, smoothly flowing fluid gains speed, internal pres-
sure in the fluid decreases, and vice versa. Ignoring
changes in temperature and density, and energy dissi-
pated by friction, Bernoullis principle can be expressed
in units of pressure, 1/2 v
2
+ gy + p = constant,
where is the density of the fluid, v its speed, y its
elevation, and p its internal pressure. If y doesnt
change, then an increase in v means a decrease in p, and
vice versa. When v = 0 (the motionless condition re-
ferred to as hydrostatics), Bernoullis equation reduces to
the familiar p = gy, which gives the increase in
pressure with increasing depth in a motionless fluid.
Bernoullis equation is derived for the smooth steady
flow (laminar flow) of constant-density fluid. In practice
it works well even when density undergoes small
changes. For flow speeds too great, the flow may be-
come turbulent and follow changing, curling paths (ed-
dies). This exerts friction on the fluid and transforms
some of its energy to thermal energy. Then, Bernoullis
equation doesnt hold (although in practice it often
works surprisingly well!).
Fluid flow is best analyzed via streamlinesthe
smooth paths, or trajectories, of fluid particles. Stream-
lines are visible when dyes or smoke are passed through
evenly spaced openings, as in a wind tunnel. Because
the flow is continuous, flow speed is greater where the
flow is constricted, such as in a pipe when the cross-
sectional area is narrowed. Faster fluid flow in narrow
regions is a consequence of the principle of continuity.
Squeezing the end of a garden hose, for example, in-
creases the speed of ejected water.
Bernoullis equation applies to points on specific
streamlines. Changes in velocity and pressure should
properly be referenced along the same streamline (just
as potential difference and gravitational potential en-
ergy need reference points). The velocity and pressure
at a point on one streamline should not be compared
with the velocity and pressure on another streamline,
especially for unparallel streamlines.
Demonstrating pressure
Pressure changes can be illustrated with a Venturi tube.
Pressure changes are also nicely evident in water that
contains air bubbles because bubbles provide a visual
pressure reference (Figure 1). The volume of a bubble
depends on the surrounding water pressure. When wa-
ter gains speed, pressure is lowered and the bubbles are
bigger. In slower, higher-pressure water, bubbles are
squeezed smaller.
The decrease of fluid pressure with increasing
speed may at first seem surprising to students, particu-
larly if they fail to distinguish between the pressure
within the moving fluid (inappropriately called static
pressure) and the pressure by the fluid on something
that interferes with its flow (dynamic pressure).
Many people miss this distinction. My science men-
tor 50 years ago, Jacque Fresco, a designer of novel
aircraft, is one of a large group of accomplished
people who overlook the distinction between static
and dynamic pressure. He said that when he puts a
vane in the path of swiftly flowing water, pressure on
the vane increases with increasing water speed. How
can pressure decrease when the experiment shows oth-
erwise? When I was a physics student, I was similarly
bothered. I had seen movie footage of people being
knocked off their feet by high-speed water from fire
hoses. How can we say pressure goes down as speed
increases? Again, the pressure within the water must
be distinguished from the pressure exerted by the wa-
ter on whatever interrupts its flow. Jets of high-speed
water are used to cut steel and have very little internal
pressure. However, the stream exerts enormous pres-
sure on the steel that halts it. When the momentum of
moving water or anything else is suddenly reduced,
the impulse exerted can be relatively huge.
The pitot tubewhich sticks out in front of an
airplanes nose or wing into the undisturbed airflow
and is used for determining airplane speedillustrates
these different pressures (Figure 2). Air coming to rest
at the back of the tubes central duct produces dynamic
pressure. Small holes along the side of the tube, perpen-
dicular to the flowing air, measure atmospheric pres-
sure. Even though the air may be rushing by these holes
at hundreds of kilometers per hour, the pressure of the
air is atmospheric (at the airplanes altitude). To see
this, consider a streamline at the holes and the same
streamline a long way in front of the plane. In both
locations the speed of air relative to the plane is the
same (when you measure speed and pressure elsewhere
along the same streamline, then youre doing Bernoulli
properly). If soap bubbles were in the air to indicate
ambient air pressure, the bubbles would have the same
size at both locationswhether seen at rest or whizzing
by at high speed. Therefore, atmospheric pressure in
front of the plane and at the holes is the same, which
explains why a pitot tube is often called a static pressure
tube. Quite importantly, high-speed air doesnt neces-
sarily mean low-pressure air. Pressure differences are
caused by changes in the speed of air or any fluid; if
there are no changes in speed along a streamline, then
there will be no differences in pressure.
Applying the principle
Classroom demonstrations of Bernoullis principle in-
clude hovering a beach ball in an air stream, blowing
between a pair of air-filled balloons, and blowing across
a sheet of paper. The teacher can ask students if anyone
has noticed anything unusual about the soft top of a
Sept ember 2004 53 53 53 53 53
Wind blowing over a peaked roof is a good ex-
ample to start with (Figure 3). Air pressure inside
the house may be the same as in the wind well re-
moved from the house. Again, fast moving air does
not necessarily mean low-pressure air. But above the
roof, the flow of air is constrained in a way similar to
air passing through a narrowed pipe. This is indi-
cated by the crowded streamlines above the peaked
roof. Curvature of the streamlines and their closeness
indicate that pressure at that point is reduced. The
pressure difference on the roof due to inside and out-
side air does not need to be very much because a
small average pressure difference over a large roof
area can produce a formidable upward force. In
short, the roof experiences lift.
The blown-off roof can be viewed as similar to an
airplane wing. In both cases a greater pressure below
pushes the roof and wing into a region of lesser pres-
sure above. Wings come in a variety of designs. What
they all have in common is that air is made to flow
faster over the top surface than the bottom surface. A
common misconception is that air flows faster over
the top because of a longer path along the top than
underneath (air molecules on top move faster to keep
up with molecules flowing below). But molecular
motion is randomeven molecules in air at rest
dont stay close to one another, and theres no reason
for molecules to keep up with one another while
flowing over and under a wing. Air does flow faster
over the top of a wing experiencing lift, but not be-
cause it resists shearing from the air below. The air
flows faster because of continuity (for much the same
reason air flows faster in a narrowed pipe or any
other constricted region).
Most often, but not always, different speeds of air-
flow over and beneath a wing are accomplished by a
difference in the curvatures (camber) of the upper and
lower surfaces of the wing and an upward tilt (the
angle of attack). The result is more crowded stream-
lines along the top wing surface (Figure 4, p. 54).
When the average pressure difference over the wing is
multiplied by the surface area of the wing, a net up-
ward force is attainedthe vertical component being
lift (or more correctly, the component of force perpen-
dicular to the direction of flight). Lift is greater when
the plane has a large wing area and is traveling fast. A
glider does not have to travel fast due to a very large
wing area relative to its weight. At the other extreme,
a fighter plane designed for high speed has a small
wing area relative to its weight. Consequently, it must
take off and land at high speeds.
Interestingly, wings without camber provide lift.
Balsa-wood model planes, for example, have flat
wings. The slot that holds the wing is cut at a small
angle to give it an angle of attack. Airflow above and
convertible car in motion. The top puffs upanother
demonstration of Bernoullis principle.
A puzzler for many teachers, however, is aerody-
namic lift. Some controversy exists as to whether lift is
best explained by Bernoullis principle or by Newtons
laws (Smith 1972). I submit that in most cases Ber-
noulli is the key. Just as we ignore forces when apply-
ing momentum conservation to collisions, we can do
the same with Bernoullis principleknowledge of
pressure differences is all we need.
F I GURE 1
Pressure changes are nicely evident in water that
contains air bubbles.
F I GURE 2
The pitot tube illustrates different pressures.
V
air
h
Mercury
F I GURE 3
Wind blowing over a peaked roof illustrates
Bernoullis principle.
The Sci ence Teacher 54 54 54 54 54
below the wing is similar to that of the cambered
winggreater pressure below and less on top.
Years ago I did a lot of painting, mainly on Masonite
board rather than on canvas. Masonite board is sold in 4
8 ft. slabs. I remember buying a slab and putting it on
the roof of my car. The salesperson was concerned that I
refused his offer to tie it down. Nope, I said, were less
than a mile away so save the ropemy wife and I will
hold it down by hand. What a surprise to find that the
drooped board made an airfoil, which allowed a top
speed of 25 kph. Any greater speed would rip the board
from our grip. This experience added to my understand-
ing that airliners weighing many tons can fly. Their
wings have more surface area and they go considerably
faster than 25 kph!
Early in my teaching career I put a lot of effort into
trying to explain aerodynamic lift in terms of billiard-
ball physics, via differences in molecular impacts on the
top and bottom surfaces of wings. All I achieved was a
sense of futility, especially when experiments showed
that molecules flowing past the wing surface dont
make direct impact on the surface anyway. Impact is
instead on thin boundary layers of air that are carried
with the winglayers with circulation patterns of their
own that can greatly alter the effective airfoil shape. I
ended my quest for a molecular-collision model when a
friend showed me dust on the surface of whirling fan
blades. A small wonder that aerodynamicists investi-
gate parcels of air rather than molecules. Ive since been
resigned to hydrodynamics being too complex for a bil-
liard-ball physics explanation.
Some physicists attribute aerodynamic lift to only
Newtons laws, maintaining that lift occurs because air is
Demonstrating Bernoullis principle
in the classroom.
Soft drink cans.
Begin by suspending a pair of soft drink cans from
strings so that approximately a centimeter of space
exists between the cans. Students then blow be-
tween the cans. Their breath increases in speed as it
moves between the cans, reducing pressure there.
The cans will then click together as Bernoullis prin-
ciple predicts. The cans can also be placed on a few
parallel straws on a tabletop. When students blow
between the cans, the cans roll together and click,
once again demonstrating Bernoullis principle.
Table tennis.
Students begin this activity by lining a cardboard
tube with sandpaper. Next, students make a pre-
diction about what will happen when they sling a
table tennis ball from the tube sidearm, and whether
they can reproduce their results or improve their
launcher. The sandpaper will produce friction that
will make the ball skid down the tube and emerge
spinning. Students will observe that the ball breaks
from a straight-line path (streamlines around a spin-
ning ball are asymmetric and produce curving of
the ball). This is the reason that table tennis paddles
have a rough surfaceso that the ball spins when
it is properly struck.
F I GURE 4
Closer streamlines above the wing's top surface
indicate reduced pressure. Differences in pressure
between the bottom and top wing surfaces produce
an upward forcewith components of lift and drag.
Lift
Drag
F I GURE 5
Very little downward deflection of streamlines is
shown in this typical wind-tunnel photo.
Sept ember 2004 55 55 55 55 55
constantly being pushed downward. Bernoulli is seen as
superfluous, and lift is seen as the result of downward
deflected air (Waltham 1998; Swartz 1999).
By whatever means, if air produces an upward
force on a wing, the wing produces a downward force
on the airno exceptions! But if other forces act on
the air, it may not acquire downward momentum.
Where, for example, is the downward momentum of
air inside the blown-off peaked roof in a hurricane or
inside the convertible car with the puffed-up top? In-
terior air is unaccelerated as the roof pushes down on
it and the floor pushes up. Downward reaction force
on the interior air contributes to its atmospheric pres-
surenot to any downward momentum. The interior
air goes nowhere. Advocates of non-Bernoullian lift
might say that air behind the peaked roof or convert-
ible top is swept downward. But that air isnt whats
pushing up on the roof or top. The air in the interior
does that. Neither Newton nor the impulse-momen-
tum theorem explains lift for the roof or car top. Pres-
sure difference does, however, and that s what
Bernoullis principle is all about.
When wind blows against a wall and bounces from
the wall, the force on the wall isnt affected by what
happens to the wind after it bounces. A golf player may
exert more force on a ball when he or she follows
through on their swing. However, after the ball leaves
the club, subsequent swing motion doesnt affect the ball.
Similarly, when air interacts with a wing, what happens
to the air after the interaction doesnt affect lift. Whether
the air is downwashed or rides on the cushion of air
below, after interaction, lift is no longer affected.
When one blows horizontally across the curved top
of a sheet of paper, air pressure there is reduced. The
paper is pushed upward by the atmospheric pressure
below. Whereas the bottom of an aircraft wing can
push oncoming air downward, the sheet of paper can-
not. Any downward push on low-pressure air crossing
over the top of the paper is by the weight of some 30
km of air above. Likewise for blown-off roofs, convert-
ible cars, and airplane wings.
Very little downward deflection of streamlines is
shown in the typical wind-tunnel photo shown in Fig-
ure 5. The more crowded streamlines above the airfoil
and wider-spaced ones below indicate differences in
pressure that produce lift. Even with no downwash at
all, if the average pressure difference on the wing mul-
tiplied by the wing area equals the weight of the craft,
lift is sufficient for flight. If air careens off the bottom
producing downwash, then even greater pressure is ex-
erted on the lower surface of the wing, producing a
greater upward force.
There are situations, however, where lift is better ex-
plained by Newton. Consider, for example, the upward
motion of a piece of plywood held at an angle when a
stream of water from a fire hose is deflected off it. The
lift force should be very close to the rate of change of
momentum of the deflected stream, with no other sig-
nificant force deflecting the stream other than that pro-
vided by the slab of wood. Invoking Bernoullis principle
would be comparing water pressure on the bottom of the
slab to nonexistent water pressure on the top.
Is the little girl with the broken umbrella in Figure
6 correct? Or should she credit Isaac Newton for her
misfortune? And when students are asked if birds
were able to fly before the time of Daniel Bernoulli,
should teachers further ask if birds could fly before
the time of Isaac Newton?
The next time youre in an airplane marveling at the
wonder of such an auditorium in flight, make a toast to
Daniel Bernoulli. Go ahead and make a secondary toast
to Newton if you wish. Unless youre in a helicopter,
which is when youd want to make your primary toast
to Isaac Newton. Nevertheless, dont be hesitant to
teach Bernoullis principle in the classroomits defi-
nitely worth exploring. n
Paul G. Hewitt is Professor Emeritus at the City College
of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94112; e-mail:
pghewitt@aol.com.
Acknowledgments
This article is the outgrowth of wonderful discussions with friends
Paul Doherty, Marshall Ellenstein, Ken Ford, and Walter Steiger.
References
Smith, N.F. 1972. Bernoulli and Newton in fluid dynamics. The
Physics Teacher 10:451455.
Swartz, C. 1999. Quibbles, misunderstandings, and egregious mis-
takes. The Physics Teacher 37:297305.
Waltham, C. 1998. Flight without Bernoulli. The Physics Teacher
36:457462.
F I GURE 6
Is the little girl in this picture correct? Or should she
credit Isaac Newton for her misfortune?
COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR