Question

A good rule of thumb is to design the horizontal stabilizer so that its area is about 1/6 to 1/8 of the area of the wing. If the area of the wing is 101.25 cm2, which of the following would be a good horizontal stabilizer design?

Answer choices:
Stabilizer with area = 32 cm2.
Stabilizer with area = 20 cm2.
Stabilizer with area = 14 cm2.
Stabilizer with area = 11 cm2.

Answer 1

Stabilizer with area = 14 cm².

Explanation:

Area of the wing = 101.25 cm²

Rule of the thumb is that area of stabilizer must be about 1/6 to 1/8 of the area of wing. So, first we calculate 1/6 of the area of the wing and 1/8 of the area of the wing. Area of stabilizer must be in between these two numbers.

1/6 of the area of wing =
`(1)/(6) * 101.25 = 16.875`

1/8 of the area of wing =
`(1)/(8) * 101.25 = 12.656`

This means, the area of horizontal stabilizer must be in between 12.656 cm² and 16.875 cm². From the given options only one option lies in between these two numbers and that is 14 cm²

Therefore, area of a good stabilizer design from the given options would be 14 cm²