National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Jet Propulsion NASA SUMMER OF INNOVATION

LESSON THEME UNIT

To build a model to demonstrate how Physical Science—Aeronautics
thrust is created in a jet engine
GRADE LEVELS
OBJECTIVES 4–6
Students will
CONNECTION TO CURRICULUM
• Investigate how thrust is created in a
Science, Mathematics, and Technology
jet engine
• Design a model jet engine
TEACHER PREPARATION TIME
• Construct a model jet engine from 2 hours
materials provided
• Observe how their model jet engine LESSON TIME NEEDED
operates 2 hours Complexity : Advanced

NATIONAL STANDARDS

National Science Education Standards (NSTA)

Science as Inquiry
• Understanding of scientific concepts
• An appreciation of “how we know” what we know in science
• Understanding of the nature of science
• Skills necessary to become independent inquirers about the natural world
• The dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science
Physical Science Standards
• Properties and changes of properties in matter
• Motions and forces
• Transfer of energy
Science and Technology Standards
• Abilities of technological design
• Understanding about science and technology
History and Nature of Science Standards
• Science as a human endeavor

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NCTM)

Operations and Algebraic Thinking
• Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems
• Generate and analyze patterns
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
• Analyze patterns and relationships
• Write and interpret numerical expressions
• Analyze patterns and relationships

ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for Students (ISTE)

Creativity and Innovation
• Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues
Communication and Collaboration
• Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
Research and Information Fluency

Aerospace Education Services Project

MANAGEMENT
Student data sheet, Part 1, is out of date and needs to state the scientific method. Each station can have a
separate data sheet with a student data table listing independent variables and the dependent variable and
contain a table for data collection. Then have students compute the range, mean, and median distances of
each jet engine test. Graph, plotting averaged numerical data, and make a picture representation (line graph).

Stations need the following:

• Intake Station has one fan. Include instructions on how to build
a simple anemometer device used to measure wind speed in MATERIALS
Part 1
m/s units. Intake Station
• Compression Station has one and two fans. Fan speed is an • Small desk fan
independent variable (low, medium, and high). Include • One sheet of paper
instructions on how to build a simple anemometer device used • Intake Station Directions
to measure wind speed in m/s units. Compression Station
• Butcher paper
• Combustion Station can have different-size balloons. Measure • Two desk fans that are the same
the circumference of each inflated balloon, and calculate size
expansion of air (volume). • Twenty 6-inch lengths of string
• Twenty 5-by-7-inch index cards
• Tape
CONTENT RESEARCH • Two markers
• Compression Station Directions
Key Concepts: Combustion Station
• Parts of a Jet Engine (Jet engines come in a variety of shapes • Flask, medium size
and sized with the specifics usually dictated by the speed of the • Balloon
aircraft.) • Can of Sterno, Matches, or lighter
o Engine: The engine is the part of the aircraft that • Tongs
provides the power for takeoff and landing and sustains • Combustion Station Directions
Part 2
flight. • One cardboard paper towel core
o Air intake (intake): This is the front section of a jet engine per student
that brings free-stream air into the engine. • One flexible straw per student
o Compressor: The compressor is made with many rotary • One 12-by-12-inch sheet of
blades attached to a shaft. The blades spin at high speed aluminum foil per student
• Four paper circles 1-1/2 inches in
and compress or squeeze the air before it enters the diameter per student
combustion section. • One small (1-inch) paper clip per
o Fuel line (burner or combustion section): The student
compressed air is then sprayed with fuel, an electric • One 3-oz. paper cup per student
spark lights the mixture, and the burning gases expand. • One pair of scissors per student
o Turbine: The gases produced in the combustion chamber • Tape
• Glue (not glue sticks)
move through the turbine and spin its blades. The • One copy of the Student Work
turbines are linked by a shaft to turn the blades in the Sheet Part 2 for each student
compressor.
o Nozzle(s): The rear section of a jet engine tailpipe
through which the exhaust gases escape.

Misconceptions:
A jet engine is an air-breathing engine. It will not operate in the vacuum of space. A rocket engine is not an air
breathing engine. A rocket carries oxygen into space by burning fuel through combustion (or burning). A liquid
propulsion rocket engine has a fuel tank and oxygen tank (oxidizer). A solid propulsion rocket engine has solid
propellant that is a mixture of fuel and oxidizer.

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LESSON ACTIVITIES
Have students complete data sheets that apply the Scientific Method. At each station students should
• Describe the experiment (Research Question)
• Predict what will happen before doing the experiment (Hypothesis)
• Conduct the experiment (Experiment)
• Record your observations (Data Collection)

Option: The teacher demonstration of an operational jet engine can be done using inexpensive, locally
obtained, recycled materials.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/382712main_ETE_Lesson_1_Jet_Propulsion.pdf

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Beginner’s Guide to Aeronautics Homepage
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/index.html

Airplane parts—turbine engines

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/turbine.html

Beginners Guide to Propulsion

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bgp.html

Fact sheets and interactive jet engine simulator

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/ngnsim.html

The Courage to Soar Educator Guide

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/The_Courage_to_Soar.html

Aeronautics Educator Guide

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Aeronautics.html
• Air Engine activity

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• What did you observe at station 1 with the paper and the fan? Did this match your prediction? The paper
that is held in front is blown away from the fan. The paper held in the back is sucked in towards the fan.
• What was your prediction for what would happen if the air had been moving into the front fan instead of
being still? What actually happened? The air speed increases when the air behind the fan is blown into the
fan rather than being still.
• What happened to the balloon at station 3? Why do you think this happened? What would happen if the air
was enclosed in a tube that didn’t expand instead of inside a balloon? The balloon inflated because the air
inside was heated. Heated air expands. If this had taken place in a tube, the air would have been forced
out the end of the tube.
• All these stations demonstrate the processes that take place inside the various parts of a jet engine. In
what order do you think they take place? Why? The proper order of the stations is intake, compression,
and combustion. There is an additional step of using a turbine to move the air out of the engine. This was
not demonstrated. According to one NASA engineer, a shorthand way to remember the steps is “suck,
squeeze, burn, and blow.”
• Describe the function of each part of the jet engine and state the scientific concepts that occur.
o Air inlet (also intake): The air intake brings ambient or outside air into the engine. The compression
section moves the air through a series of fans that compress, or squeeze, the air causing it to
increase in speed. The combustion section heats the air by burning fuel. This causes the air to
expand very rapidly and significantly increases its speed again. Finally, the turbine forces the
heated, expanding air out the back of the engine, creating thrust.
o Compressor: The compression section moves the air through a series of fans that compress, or
squeeze, the air causing it to increase in speed.

Aerospace Education Services Project 3

 o Fuel line: The combustion section has fuel lines that supplies fuel that is sprayed into the airstream.
The air is mixed with fuel and then ignited. The burning fuel heats the air producing hot expanding
gases.
o Turbine: The turbine forces the heated, expanding air out the back of the engine, creating thrust.
o Jet nozzle: The jet nozzle is the exhaust duct of the jet engine. This is the jet engine part which
actually produces the thrust.

ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
• Conduct a class discussion where students share their findings about how a jet engine works.
• Assess the Jet Propulsion Work Sheet that describes the function of each part of the jet engine.
• Using their jet engine model, take a blank sheet of paper and draw a jet engine cross section and then
describe the function of each part.

ENRICHMENT
“How does a jet engine work?” Web site
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/UEET/StudentSite/engines.html#enginework
This Web site contains
• How a Jet Engine Works video
• History of the jet engine
• Parts of a jet engine
• Types of jet engines

www.nasa.gov

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