Middle School

The Wright Flyer was the first successful powered aircraft. A model was made to display in a museum with a length of 35 cm and a wingspan of about 66.9 cm. The actual plane had a length of 21 ft 1 in., and a height of 2.74 m. Compare the length, height, and wingspan of the model to the actual plane and explain why any discrepancies may occur. (Round any calculations to the nearest whole number.)

Answer :

We are given that:

Model [length = 35 cm; wingspan = 66.9 cm; height = ?]

Actual [length = 21 ft 1 in = 6.43 m; height = 2.74 m; wingspan = ?]

We can solve for the height of the model plane using the given values of the actual plane and by ratio and proportion:

35 cm / height model = 6.43 m / 2.74 m

height model = 14.9 cm

We can also solve for the wingspan of the actual plane:

35 cm / 66.9 cm = 6.43 m / wingspan actual

wingspan actual = 12.30 m

So we can see that the model is:

6.43 m (100 cm / m) / 35 cm = 18.37

18.37 times smaller than the actual plane

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