And now, it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst.
Hey, smarty pants.
Have you ever been on an airplane flight?
What are some of the things you like about flying?
Do you like looking out the window and seeing the tiny homes and trees below?
Or maybe you like flying above or through the clouds.
Or maybe you just like the free snacks and soda.
Ooh, pretzels.
Yum.
These days it's so easy to fly, it's easy to forget that it's a relatively new experience for humans.
What's also incredible is that we know how to stop and levitate while flying high up in the air.
It may not be magic, but it can sure feel magical.
Smarty Pants, welcome aboard.
Do you know what vehicle we're in right now?
It's something that can fly and hover in the sky.
Did you say a helicopter?
Ready to go, trustee.
What?
I said, are you ready to go?
Yes, I've started the show.
What?
What?
You ready to go?
Am I afraid of snow?
What?
Here, put on your headset.
What about the sunset?
Wait, let me put on my headset.
Ah, that's better.
Smarty pants.
I'm joined by my friend and news reporter at large, Chet Nickerson, who often does weather, traffic and, for some reason, sports from a helicopter.
Hello, smarty pants.
This is Chet Nickerson.
Are you ready to take a ride with me in the News 9 Chet Chopper?
Of course we are.
And along the way, we'll learn all about helicopters.
Like, how do helicopters fly and hover?
Why must pilots use their hands and feet to fly?
And why are helicopters so noisy?
It's time for another whiff of science and history on...
Who's smart and... Who's smart and... Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science?
Or history?
Listen up, everyone!
We make smarting lots of fun on Who's Smart and...
Hey, smarty pants.
It's not every day you get to ride in a helicopter, but chances are you've seen one, especially if you live in the country with the most helicopters.
See if you can guess which country that is.
Is it Russia, Canada, or the United States?
If you said the USA, you're right.
The USA has the most helicopters by far.
Its military helicopter force is the largest in the world.
And its civilian fleet helicopters used for things like medical rescues, police activity, tourism and news numbers more than 9000.
Did someone say news?
This is Chet Nickerson reporting live from the News 9, Chet Chopper.
Right.
Anyway, the number of helicopters in the US is over four times larger than the next largest civilian fleet, which belongs to Canada.
And it was also in the United States where modern helicopters first took off.
Smarty pants.
True or false?
The United States is where helicopter technology was first invented.
The answer is false.
So where did helicopter technology first appear?
Is it A, Russia, B, France, C, Germany, or D, ancient China?
You might be surprised to learn that the answer is D, ancient China.
Turns out the helicopter's roots go way back, more than 1,600 years.
Sure, but to clarify, the ancient Chinese weren't exactly flying around in them.
The technology was there, but it was just a toy.
That's right, Smarty Pants.
Every helicopter you see in the sky is based on a toy.
Whoa.
Oh, and this toy was basically a bamboo stick with feathers on one end.
If you gave it a fast spin, it would fly up into the air like the big rotor that lifts a chopper.
That simple design got people thinking, hmm, maybe one day a person could fly this way.
And many people tried. including the famous painter of the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.
Smarty Pants, do you remember who that is?
We did an episode on him.
He shares a first name with a teenage mutant ninja turtle.
Why, it's none other than Leonardo da Vinci.
Yep, da Vinci took a stab at designing a helicopter.
I wonder what he would say if he could see us now.
What the...
Hey, it's Leonardo da Vinci.
What's it like being on a real helicopter?
What?
A real helicopter, like the flying vehicle you designed in the 1400s.
Cool.
Never mind.
Thanks for coming.
We love your work.
Helicopters are so loud.
They are, but there's a good reason for that.
Of course, da Vinci never heard such loud noise from his designs.
Smarty Pants, can you guess why?
Is it A?
Da Vinci's flying machine didn't have a motor B?
Da Vinci never built his flying machine or C?
Da Vinci's flying machine was made of pillows?
The answer is B.
While Da Vinci sketched a flying machine that looked a bit like a helicopter, he never actually built one.
And a lot of other inventors tried making helicopters the same way, with sketches or models.
But they too never reached the point where they could build a full-scale one for people.
Until the early 1900s, when a bunch of inventors from places like France Denmark, Spain and the USA and Russia started making actual flying vehicles.
Unfortunately, they didn't go very high or very far.
Not to mention, they were quite difficult to control.
The Germans succeeded in 1936 when they created a helicopter that resembled a plane.
Instead of one main rotor like today's helicopters, it had two, one on each side.
The world's first female helicopter pilot, Hannah Reich, operated one of these.
Germany was also the first to mass produce a type of helicopter.
Ah, but soon a more popular helicopter emerged, one with a large main rotor and a smaller tail rotor.
It's the type of vehicle you now think of when you hear the word helicopter.
It debuted in 1939 and a year later it broke a world record by staying in the air for an hour and a half.
Nice.
Smarty Pants, any idea how long a typical modern-day helicopter can fly before having to refuel?
If you said two and a half to five hours, you're right.
Plenty of time to report the news, weather, traffic, and sports.
So, Smarty Pants, do you know who invented the modern-day helicopter?
Is it A. Wilbur and Orville Wright, B. Thomas Edison, C. Igor Sikorsky, or D. Jules Verne?
You could say all those guys helped people fly.
Author Jules Verne wrote stories involving helicopters before they even existed, which in turn inspired others to turn his fiction into fact.
Yep, and Thomas Edison was one of those people Jules inspired.
However, while Edison invented over 1,000 things, the helicopter was not one of them.
But he did try.
He determined a working helicopter would need an aerodynamic rotor and a very strong engine.
Which is what helicopters have today.
The Wright Brothers' plane proved that controlled human flight was possible, eventually leading to the modern helicopter developed by C Igor Sikorsky, a Russian who immigrated to the United States.
Of course, there are some major differences between Sikorsky's helicopter and an airplane.
Smarty pants, can you think of any?
Go ahead, shout them out.
Huh?
Huh?
Uh-huh.
We already mentioned, one, helicopters can hover in the air while planes can't.
What other differences are there?
Well, planes have wings that don't move while helicopters have moving blades.
Planes also need a runway to take flight while helicopters go straight up.
And yes, helicopters are usually louder than planes.
And unlike airplanes, choppers can fly backwards.
Planes are great for taking long trips, but for certain jobs, a helicopter's the flying vehicle you need.
They can move and turn in ways planes don't and can reach places planes can't.
That's why you see helicopters doing emergency rescues, moving military troops fighting large fires and, of course, giving traffic reports.
Speaking of, it's bumper to bumper on the 405.
Expect delays.
The helicopter's unique design makes it all possible.
The main rotor, those giant blades rotating above us, keeps us in the air.
Now, if a plane's engine goes out, a plane could still glide to safety using its wings.
But if you shut off the main rotor, you're just going to fall.
So it's best to keep that moving.
Yeah, let's not turn that off again.
Agreed.
Now, if you'll allow me, I'll teach you how to fly a helicopter.
I will absolutely allow it, right after this quick break.
We'll be right back.
Whether your kid needs to reinforce foundational skills before an assessment or push ahead into new material, IXL meets them exactly where they are, with no pressure and real encouragement built right in.
Kids earn rewards, see their own progress, And for parents, the real-time progress tracking is a game changer.
You always know exactly where your child stands.
Plus, it makes learning fun.
And you know I love that.
Over 15 million students use IXL, and it's proven to improve achievement in all 50 states.
So make an impact on your child's learning.
Who Smarted listeners get an exclusive 20% off at iXcel.com slash smarted.
That's iXcel.com slash smarted for your 20% off.
Now back to Who Smarted.
Okay, trusty, ready to take the controls?
What?
No, I don't know how to fly a helicopter.
Here, I'll show you.
The pilot sits inside the cockpit and controls the main rotor using two levers one beside them and one in front.
To take off, the pilot puts one hand on the side lever and uses it to increase the speed of the main rotor and tilt the blades, which lifts the vehicle.
With the other hand, the pilot moves the front lever to tilt the entire main rotor.
Tilt it forward, and the chopper moves forward.
Tilt it back, and the chopper moves backwards.
Same goes for side to side.
Simple.
So a helicopter pilot uses both hands to fly?
Both hands and both feet.
Both feet too?
What do your feet do?
They operate the foot pedals that control the tail rotor.
The tail rotor allows a helicopter to rotate left or right.
But more importantly, it provides a force to counteract the engine's force on the main rotor.
Do you know what would happen if the helicopter didn't have a tail rotor?
Uh, I'm afraid to ask.
Smarty Pants, do you know?
Without the tail rotor, the helicopter would spin around and around and around.
You'd get pretty dizzy and would probably crash.
Let's not think about that.
Thanks to the tail rotor, you don't have to.
By carefully using the pedals and levers, a pilot can get all the forces from the rotating blades to balance out, allowing the helicopter to hover in one spot.
It takes skill and constant maneuvering to make that happen.
But expert pilots like me make it look easy.
Well, I'm not one of them, so I'll just watch.
I hear you, trusty.
Smart thinking.
Speaking of hearing, why are helicopters so loud?
Smarty Pants, just how loud is a helicopter?
Here are some noises.
Which do you think is as loud as a chopper passing overhead?
A car on the highway?
A blender?
An ambulance?
Or fireworks?
Well, the sound level of a helicopter is about 87 decibels, about the same level as a food blender.
Though people tend to think it's louder than that.
That's because of the unique sound a chopper makes.
It comes from the spin of the main rotor.
As the blades move, air flows around it, creating a vortex, sort of like a mini tornado.
But almost as soon as that vortex is formed, another blade chops right through it.
Bam!
This chop creates a vibration or sound.
Bam!
And it happens over and over and over again.
It's one reason why helicopters are called choppers.
Tail rotors and the engine are also noisy, and combined you have one of the loudest vehicles in the world.
It's even louder inside the cockpit and not safe for your ears.
That's why you need to wear noise-suppressing headsets.
What?
I said noise-suppressing.
Wait, you are wearing a headset.
Yeah, I was just noticing the traffic down there.
I am not looking forward to the drive home.
A high-flying shout-out to Jameson and Waylon in Laguna Niguel, California.
You wrote in to say you listen every day and love laughing and learning at the same time.
Well, that's the Who Smarted Way.
Thanks for coming along for the ride, you two.
This episode Helicopters was written by Dave Aerodynamic Beaudry and voiced by Adam Chet Davis, Gia Gyro Davis, Max Rotorhead Kamaski and Jerry Kolber.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh, Hovering Han.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Tailroader Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
