Air and fluids

The air of Mars is about sixty times thinner than ours, and its pressure less than 1% of ours, yet it carries dust storms around the planet and let a small helicopter fly. This topic starts with wind and bubbles and climbs to pressure, buoyancy, lift and drag, and how to fly, land and breathe in air that thin.

8 levels. The ages are only a rough guide for parents and teachers; anyone can start at any level.

Level	Rough age	What it covers
Level 1: Wind and bubbles	5-6	Air is real stuff; feeling wind, blowing bubbles
Level 2: Floating and sinking	7-8	Boats, balloons, why some things float
Level 3: Air pushes	9-10	Air pressure, straws, suction cups, a sealed bag on a mountain
Level 4: Thin air	11-12	How thin Mars air is, why you need a pressure suit there
Level 5: Pressure and buoyancy	12-13	P = F/A, pressure with depth, Archimedes' principle
Level 6: Flowing fluids	13-14	Flow rate, Bernoulli's principle, wings and propellers
Level 7: Lift and drag	15-16	Lift and drag equations, how Ingenuity flew, dust devils
Level 8: Winds of a planet	17 and beyond	Reynolds number, global winds, how dust storms grow on Mars