Wings, life and air: sustaining air in the flight of birds and aircraft and the global warming

Abstract

The global context of climate change has caused an increase in atmospheric temperature and a reduced air density, leading those responsible for air traffic control at London and Phoenix airports to adopt, as a security measure, the removal of some passengers from the aircraft (in 2013) and the cancellation of some flights (in 2017). The importance of air density for the flight of a bird and for an artifice to imitate it, was already highlighted in the three characteristics (wings, life and air) mentioned by Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, in 1709. Such facts structure a proposal related to the Science, Technology and Society and the History of Sciences approaches, to be implemented in the training of physics and chemistry teachers, aiming to provoke reflections and debates about the social function that aircraft play today and how the global temperature increase begins to interfere in aerial locomotion. The licensors are provoked to study the function of air in the flight of the bird and in the support of the aircraft; reflect on the economic and social model that structures the movement of people and products across the Planet; debate about fossil and alternative fuels; review scientific concepts that support sustainable alternatives. It seeks to promote the formative objectives of STS approaches, in addition to allowing undergraduate students to get involved in this experience. It is intended that they can experience possibilities for their future professional practice, before studying the theoretical foundations on the topic.