Help!! needed with lift calculations for class project

[AirCaptain2840]

Hi everybody- I'm doing a project for my math class where I need to find out why it is so difficult to find an airship's volume. It would REALLY help if you can attach some pics of LZ-127, LZ-129, or LZ-130, or basically any other ones you can find. Just make sure I know which zeppelin it was.

I also would appreciate any links to websites with blueprint pictures, along with any mathematical formulae that you can find for airships....

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

[keeline]

Hi everybody- I'm doing a project for my math class where I need to find out why it is so difficult to find an airship's volume. It would REALLY help if you can attach some pics of LZ-127, LZ-129, or LZ-130, or basically any other ones you can find. Just make sure I know which zeppelin it was.

I also would appreciate any links to websites with blueprint pictures, along with any mathematical formulae that you can find for airships....

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Since the LZs you mention are rigids, the problem of calculating the volume is not simply a matter of the shape but the fact that not all of the envelope is filled with gas. Is this the point you are trying to make?

James

[AirCaptain2840]

Well, I was showing my math teacher some blueprints I made of a rigid airship, and I asked her if she could find the volume. We got into a discussion of how to find the volume, and then she said "right- why don't you do a project about how difficult it is to find the volume of an airship/zeppelin?"

So, what I have to do is get some pics of zep's and airships and explain how I got interested in them, some technical info, and then explain how they theoretically found the volume in the 30's, and then explain how we can do it today (i.e. LOTS of paper vs. computer :D)

I should also mention that this project is on the rigids, not blimps or semi-rigids, so calculating the volume was very vital because of determining the lift and useful lift.

Did I write too much? :LOL:

[keeline]

Well, I was showing my math teacher some blueprints I made of a rigid airship, and I asked her if she could find the volume. We got into a discussion of how to find the volume, and then she said "right- why don't you do a project about how difficult it is to find the volume of an airship/zeppelin?"

Which level of math is this?

James

[AirCaptain2840]

Right now my class is doing 9th grade space geometry.

[Charles Adams]

Don't tell me, you have to have all this done by Monday, right? ;)

There isn't much in the way of blueprints available online. You might download the plans for WWI Zeppelins from Arizona Models here (http://arizonamodels.com/reference/Thumbs/Airships/Airships.html).

The individual gas cells were shaped like cylinders amidships but were more like frustums of a cone at the front and rear. To make things simpler, you might assume each cell is a cylinder which makes calculating the volume much easier. Then, the process might go something like this:


Break the ship into sections according to how many gas cells were present. Use the frames shown on the plans as a guide to divide the ship into compartments. The charts in this section (http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32) will tell you how many gas cells.
Figure the average diameter of a cell in a certain area. Where the hull is curved, pick a mid-point between the fore and aft frames to get an approximate average diameter. This should allow you to make a reasonable approximation of the volume in this section. In the front and back of the ship, the gas cells are shaped more like truncated cones (this is called a frustum of a cone). Calculating volume for something like that is more work.
Make a diagram of all the gas cells. Figure the diameter and depth of each cell.
The volume is the area of the circle with the average diameter times the depth of the cell. Make sure the units are the same for each measurement. You will then have a good approximate volume for the cell.
Add the volumes of all the gas cells to get the total volume of the airship.
Multiply the total volume by the appropriate lifting value for the gas in question to get the approximate available lift.


Some points to keep in mind:


The lifting force generated by a gas is determined by its density relative to the density of the surrounding air. The greater the difference between the two, the greater the lift.
The density can be used to calculate a number you can plug into your formula for calculating lift. Most of the numbers (or factors) you will find are in metric units. So, you may need to convert your measurements into metric units to make the calculations.
Lift varies depending on atmospheric temperature and pressure and also the temperature and pressure of the lifting gas. That's because density changes as temperature and pressure change. You may want to make your calculations assuming standard temperature and pressure or STP.


Here's a good link (http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/lift.html) I found that explains lift calculations.

Good luck! :D

[AirCaptain2840]

Thanks for the help- oh, it's due Friday, so I have a long time to work on the project. :D

Does anybody have any really good pictures of the famous zeppelins (Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, Akron, Macon)? I need some good pictures, some a blt large, so that I can fill up the space on the posterboard.

The pictures should be able to see from the nose to the tail, all of the way. Something like the start-up picture of this website is also good.

Thanks!

[Danthekiwi]

You have computers and laptops and projectors and stuff at school? Get really geeky and make a power point.

[Charles Adams]

Do a Google image search and you should find lots to work with. The only way to get larger high-res images you can print out nice and big is to find some books on airships with large pics and scan them.

[AirCaptain2840]

Hi everybody! My class was very interested in the poster I had made for airships, so thank you for the help. My class was so interested that they want me to do a new presentation, to the class, about airships. I have all of the information already, but I need help finding some pictures of these zep's:

LZ 126
" 127
" 129
" 130

USS Akron / Macon

The presentation os this Friday, so please hurry!

Thanks!

[AirCaptain2840]

Hi, does anybody know how to save a YouTube video on a powerpoint presentation? I will be presenting to my class tomorrow, and I want to show them the Hindenburg footage from YouTube, but I'm not sure about internet access, so is there any way to save a video on PowerPoint?

[Charles Adams]

Here's the skinny:


The videos are stored in Flash video format or FLV. This allows them to stream the video so you can watch it while it downloads.
If you have a PC, each video you watch will be downloaded into your Temporary Internet Files folder (assuming you're using Internet Explorer).



Using IE, you can copy downloaded video as follows:


Go to Tools=>Internet Options.
Under Browsing History, choose Settings.
Choose View Files.


This will open up a window that shows all the files. It looks like a mess, but try sorting by size. Click on the "Size" column label, then click again so the arrow points down. This sorts the files by the largest first. The videos are typically big files, starting at about 500K and going up to 7 Megabytes or even more. Each one will have some sort of cryptic name.

You can drag/drop these files to any folder on your computer, or use "Copy" and "Paste" to make a copy in your "My Videos" folder. Watch out, because Windows can play some tricks on you during the copy process. When you drag/drop or try to transfer the files, they get renamed "get_video[1]" etc. Many times the system will try to overwrite a file. So, you might need to drag them one at a time, renaming each one before you drag the next. This can get tricky!

Here's another important trick: Try clearing (deleting) your Temporary Internet Files before you view the video. Then, after viewing, open the Temporary Internet Files window as described above. Now you should have only one big video file and you'll know exactly what it is.

Once you have the video in a folder somewhere, be sure to rename it. The file has no extension, so you need to add ".flv" to the end of each filename.

You can't directly play an FLV file without a special player. So, now there are two options:


Purchase or download a Flash video player.
Purchase or download a utility application that can convert FLV files to AVI or other standard video formats.


For PC programs, try CNET. I am very careful about installing new applications, but feel that those posted at CNET can usually be trusted and they are tested to make sure they don't contain spyware.

Once you have the video converted to AVI, you can add it to your PowerPoint presentation. I'm pretty sure it needs to be an avi file in order to do this. I haven't tried it before, but it should be no harder than creating a new slide and then importing the video file into it.

Hope that helps! :)

[Charles Adams]

PS On the pics, do you know how to do a Google image search? Go to Google and then look for the Images link at the top of the screen. Click that and then perform a search. You should find plenty of good pics to choose from.