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Index

Intro

Worksheet

Mach Number Problems
If so instructed by your teacher, print out a worksheet page for these problems.


Open the slide called Lift Coefficient (with text) and read the definition of Mach number.  

Various military aircraft have Mach numbers from 1.6 to over 3. Do you know what that means?

The unitless Mach number was named after the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach. An airplane flying at less than Mach 1 is traveling at subsonic speeds; at about Mach 1, or transonic, it is at the speed of sound which is approximately 740 mph; and greater than Mach 1, supersonic speeds. An aircraft traveling at Mach 2 is traveling at twice the speed of sound.

 

  1. Use the definition of Mach number obtained from the Lift Coefficient slide (with text) and the information above to determine the speed of a jet at Mach 3.

     

  2. Convert the speed of sound units of mph to km/hr.

     

  3. Let's find the Mach number of some interesting jets. The maximum speed of the jets listed can be found on the World Wide Web. Simply go to the link provided, click on a/c data, and Search the airrpage database by keying in F-16, F-15A, or SR-71A. Use the data to fill in the speeds, then compute and fill in the Mach numbers in the table below.
    F-16 - http://www.pilotportal.com/airpage
    F-15A - http://www.pilotportal.com/airpage
    SR-71A - http://www.pilotportal.com/airpage

    Jet
    Max Speed, km/hr
    Mach Number
    F-16

    F-15A

    SR-71A

     

  4. The X-15A (http://www.pilotportal.com/airpage) was a research aircraft designed and built for NASA. Using its maximum speed (from the World Wide Web), compute its Mach number.

     Max Speed, km/hr = __________________

    Mach Number = ______________________