Reading Comprehension Passage:
Flight
[excerpt from: https://www.britannica.com/technology/history-of-flight]
On the evening of Sept. 18, 1901, Wilbur Wright, a 33-year-old businessman from Dayton, Ohio, addressed a distinguished group of Chicago engineers on the subject of “Some Aeronautical Experiments” that he had conducted with his brother Orville Wright over the previous two years. “The difficulties which obstruct the pathway to success in flying machine construction,” he noted, “are of three general classes.”
This clear analysis—the clearest possible statement of the problem of heavier-than-air flight—became the basis for the Wright brothers’ work over the next half decade. What was known at that time in each of these three critical areas and what additional research was required are considered below.
Construction of the sustaining wings: the problem of lift
The dream of human flight must have begun with observation of birds soaring through the sky. For millennia, however, progress was retarded by attempts to design aircraft that emulated the beating of a bird’s wings. The generations of experimenters and dreamers who focused their attention on ornithopters—machines in which flapping wings generated both lift and propulsion—contributed nothing substantial to the final solution of the problems blocking the route to mechanical flight.
The generation and application of power: the problem of propulsion
At the beginning of the 19th century, sustained powered heavier-than-air flight remained an impossibility because of the lack of suitable power plants. The level of technology that would permit even limited powered flight lay over a century in the future. Clockwork mechanisms and other sorts of spring-powered systems were clearly unsuitable for human flight. While electricity powered several airships during the last quarter of the century, the poor power-to-weight ratio of such systems made it difficult to imagine an electrically propelled airplane.
Balancing and steering the machine: the problem of control
Having decided that the design of wings and the development of a power plant were fairly well in hand, the Wright brothers focused on the element of control. Other experimenters had given some thought to the subject. Cayley was the first to use an elevator for control in pitch (directing the nose up and down). Throughout the second half of the 19th century, airships had used rudders for yaw control (directing the nose to the right and left).
Reading Comprehension Question on Main Idea:
- What is the main idea of this passage?
A. For the Wright Brothers to create a successful flying machinge, the heavier-than-air problem had to solved. (answer)
B. The heavier-than-air flight problem is made up of three critical areas.
C. Wilbur Wright addressed engineers in Chicago.
D. Lift, propulsion, and control are areas the Wright Brothers needed to experiment.
The answer is A. because it captures the whole of the text passage. Answer choice B. is not correct because it states a specific detail within the whole of the text. Answer choice C. is not correct because it also states a specific detail rather than look at the passage as a whole. Answer choice D. is not correct because it draws a conclusion not provided by the text that creates a specific detail about the text.