Our projects' name is "Aerodynamics in Sports Technology". With the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a partner in this project, we'd like you to understand the basic aerodynamics of flight. Once we're all familiar with those concepts, we'll explain the similarities and differences of the aerodynamics of a "projectile" like our tennis ball from a typical flying vehicle, like an airplane.
We plan to start by explaining the terms and the laws that govern flight. You've heard most of these words before - although you might not know the "scientific" meaning as they apply to flight. You may be surprised that the rules or laws that govern flight are concepts that you became familiar with in elementary school.
But let's get started by defining the word "force". We'll briefly discuss the forces on an airplane and a tennis ball in flight. (We'll go into greater detail on each of these forces a little later in this section.)