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A blue and orange model fishing boat climbing a wave in an indoor wave basin, the hall reflected in the water Sim 07

Ships · Wave basin

Boats in rough seas

Drive a rescue RIB, a fishing boat, two self-righting lifeboats (one the Coast Guard’s 47-foot Motor Lifeboat) and a 244 m container ship through storm waves in a 110 m wave basin. Feel the slams, see why you never go side-on, surf down a wave, ride out a rogue wave and watch a giant ship start to roll.

  • Waves
  • Stability
  • Resonance
  • Seamanship
Open the wave basin
A model ship floating in a glass-sided tank in a harbour boathouse, the part of its hull under water shown in blue Sim 06

Ships · Model basin

How boats float

Real boats, from a kayak to Blackbeard’s pirate ship and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, in a tank filled to the brim. Watch the water’s push grow until it matches the boat’s weight, weigh the water it pushes away, load it until it sinks.

  • Archimedes
  • Displacement
  • Density
  • Draft & freeboard
Open the basin
A model of the 1903 Wright Flyer in a wooden wind tunnel in the Wright brothers' Dayton bicycle shop, smoke streaming over its wings Sim 05

Flight · Dayton bicycle shop

How the Wright Flyer flew

Put the 1903 Flyer in a copy of the brothers' own wind tunnel, in the back room of their bicycle shop. Work the front elevator, warp the wings and see why it only just flew.

  • Lift equation
  • Wing warping
  • Adverse yaw
  • Thrust
Open the shop
A baseball with backspin in a wind tunnel: smoke and a laser sheet show its wake thrown down while the spin pushes it up Sim 04

Baseball · Pitching lab

How spin and seams move a pitch

See how nine pitches are gripped, watch the air around the spinning ball in a wind tunnel, then throw them 60 feet 6 inches. Spin and seams both push the ball.

  • Magnus force
  • Seam-shifted wake
  • Gravity
  • Drag
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An Indy car on a rolling-road wind tunnel, smoke streams bending over it and green downforce arrows pushing it down Sim 03

Racing · Garage

How race cars produce downforce

Roll an Indy car, a Corvette, a pickup, a brick and a cow into a rolling-road wind tunnel. Tune the Indy car's wings and see the downforce, the drag and the top speed.

  • Downforce
  • Drag
  • Ground effect
  • Streamlining
Open the garage
An F/A-18 Hornet pitched nose-high in a smoke tunnel, with spiraling vortex smoke trailing from its wingtips Sim 02

Flight · Hangar

How a Hornet controls pitch, roll and yaw

A Marine F/A-18 from VMFA-533 in a hangar wind tunnel. Pitch it, roll it, yaw it, then crank the nose up and watch the LEX vortices take over.

  • Pitch · roll · yaw
  • Control surfaces
  • Vortex lift
  • High alpha
Open the hangar
Smoke streams bending around a wing with slats and flaps extended, inside a glowing wind-tunnel lab Sim 01

Flight · Wing lab

How wings produce lift

Put a wing in a smoke tunnel. Tilt it, bend it with slats and flaps, and watch the air, the pressure and the lift change. A live camber diagram shows the math.

  • Angle of attack
  • Camber
  • Stall
  • Lift equation
Open the lab