Rock You Like a Hurricane: The Ultimate Wind Tunnel Quiz

It's all about getting air, or aerodynamics. Wind tunnels help engineers study the effects of airflow.

His design closely mimicked a bird, thus it was called an ornithopter.

Resist the wrong answer! Drag is the same thing as air resistance, which slows down objects in the wind.

Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your seats and buckle your seatbelts. Air turbulence can be mild or violent, but it's always a factor in the skies.

You are getting very, very dizzy. Whirling arms were used to spin objects in hopes of gaining insights into aerodynamics.

He really liked quadruple lattes, too. Benjamin Robins was a well-known mathematician with an insatiable curiosity.

A whirling leg wouldn't have been an improvement. Turbulence in general was a major problem for the whirling arm.

Foiled again! Airfoils, the precursors to full-blown glider and plane wings, revealed some intial clues about the potential for manned flight.

If you got it right, it will do the same thing to your score. Lift is a critical force for getting objects off of the ground and into the air.

And the winds of change really did blow afterwards. It was 1871.

At 12 feet long (and 18 inches square), it was actually much bigger than a lot of subsequent tunnels.

Without it, the point of the whole contraption is moot. The test section is the area where scientists mount test models.

They were true aerodynamics geeks. With their meticulous research, the Wright brothers eventually built a wind tunnel they hoped was superior to earlier versions.

Pull, don't push, is the rule when using fans in a tunnel, as the air will be much smoother.

Big enough to change history. It was only 16 inches, but the resulting enlightenment lasted forever.

They were nothing if not thorough. Orville and Wilbur tried out around 200 shapes before they settled on a few promising designs.

It is the calm before the windstorm. The settling chamber brings order to chaotic airflow and prepares it for the next part of the wind tunnel.

Without it, many test results would be invalidated. The diffuser widens and lets the air flow steadily and slowly so as not to affect the test section.

It's not like a bee's, hopefully. The stinger keeps the model stationary during wind tests.

That brings this quiz to a close. Closed-circuit wind tunnels are like race tracks for breezes.