On December 17, 1903, on a windy beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a homemade airplane rolled along a wooden rail and lifted into the air. It flew for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Its builders, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, owned a bicycle shop. Before the day was over, they had flown four times; the longest flight lasted 59 seconds.
Key idea
Marie Curie, born in Poland, studied in Paris, where women were rarely allowed to be scientists. With her husband Pierre, she discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. She won the Nobel Prize twice, in physics (1903) and chemistry (1911), the first person ever to win two.
Worked example: How fast was it?
- 120 ÷ 12 = 10.
Answer: 10 feet each second, about as fast as a person running.
Common mistake
Try it at home
- Fold three paper airplanes of different shapes. Fly each three times from the same spot and measure the distance. Which design flies farthest? (That is a fair test, like the Wrights' experiments.)
- Ask a grandparent which inventions came into your family's home in their lifetime.