The other day I had the opportunity to tour the world's largest wind tunnel! It was quite a sight!
You might wonder what the purpose of such a large wind tunnel is, besides of course, generating mass amounts of wind... I learned that new airplanes get tested for their aerodynamics (ensuring your safety), old airplanes, such as the Wright brothers plane (replica) was tested for its aerodynamic design, and other objects that fly get tested here, such as the Mars Rover parachutes. The ability to test an object provides both knowledge and the ability to see if it would work as designed, before a catastrophic failure or to maximize performance. I know the team who worked at the wind tunnel (from the director to the interns) loved their job. Pretty cool!
Here are some neat sites I found where you can learn more, learn the math behind aerodynamics, and even make your own (virtual) wind tunnel to test your ideas!
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-world-s-largest-wind-tunnel
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/tunnozd.html
http://raphael.mit.edu/Java/
Have a windyfull day ;)
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