The Aerodynamics of Frisbee Flight

This project will describe the physics of a common Frisbee in flight. The aerodynamic forces acting on the Frisbee are lift and drag, with lift being explained by Bernoulli‘s equation and drag by the Prandtl relationship. Using V. R. Morrison‘s model for the 2-dimensional traject...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kathleen Baumback
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of South Florida 2010-01-01
Series:Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ujmm/vol3/iss1/31
Description
Summary:This project will describe the physics of a common Frisbee in flight. The aerodynamic forces acting on the Frisbee are lift and drag, with lift being explained by Bernoulli‘s equation and drag by the Prandtl relationship. Using V. R. Morrison‘s model for the 2-dimensional trajectory of a Frisbee, equations for the x- and y- components of the Frisbee‘s motion were written in Microsoft Excel and the path of the Frisbee was illustrated. Variables such as angle of attack, area, and attack velocity were altered to see their effect on the Frisbee‘s path and to speculate on ways to achieve maximum distance and height.
ISSN:2326-3652