5.1 What science have you seen in this course?

The science introduced in this course focused on two main areas.

In Section 2, you were introduced to some fundamental aspects of aerodynamics. You saw that airflow around an object is characterised by its bow wave and its wake, and that the nature of this flow is determined by the layer of air right next to the object's surface, called the boundary layer. Overall, you saw how air resistance and aerodynamics are linked.

In Section 3, you were introduced to ideas about materials structure. You saw how the density, strength and other properties of a material are determined by the way atoms inside the material bind to each other. You also saw that the strength of carbon-fibre structures partially arises from the fact that the substance is a composite material.