Things that fly: from Leonardo’s ideas to modern airplanes, whales, frisbees, wind turbines and race cars. On Sunday May 29th, Stanford's Prof. Gianluca Iaccarino and his students met with 24 young minds - 3rd to 6th graders at Convington Elementary School - for 2 hours of fun and learning about aerodynamics using practical tests, computer simulations and elementary physics concepts.
The event was a success thanks to many who helped: John Axerio-Cilies, Emin Issakhanian, David Philips, Riccardo Rossi, Giovanni Petrone and Vi Nguyen. Also thanks to Geoff Bower and Prof. Juan Alonso for lending the cool model airplane and Marlene Lomuljo for helping with the logistics for the event. Last but not least, thanks to Gilda Borrelli for food and beverages and for the pictures below!

• The event flier
• The QuickTime movie of the presentation (it's 80Mb)
• The interactive demonstrations at the Smithsonian Museum
• Prof. Iaccarino's Website at Stanford

Ready to go. Things that fly...	Massimo checking-in fellow 3rd grader Sacha in the Stanford White Plaza	Small autonomous planes built by Stanford graduate students broke the altitude record early in 2010.	How does a jet engine work? lots and lots of wings: Covington students follow Prof. Iaccarino presentation.
Taking a real jet engine apart. Graduate student Emin Issakhanian explains where it "burns".	Graduate students John Axerio-Cilies and Emin Issakhanian operate a tunnel for wind turbine testing.	Graduate student David Philips and visiting Professor Riccardo Rossi illustrate the flow around a wing using a smoke wind tunnel.	The vortex at the wing-tip in the smoke wind tunnel.
Big screens and giant computers.	What it takes to turn a wind turbine? Demonstrations using a fan and a 10'' turbine.	Can you make a plane fly faster or higher? Interactive demonstrations from the Smithsonian Museum Online.	Computer simulations and 3D visualizations of fluid flows.
Flying giant planes in the White Plaza.	Planes, frisbees and things that fly (including shoes...). Fun in the White Plaza.	The whole crew in the White Plaza with the giant planes. This was a lot of fun.	Weird Faces in the White Plaza.