Introduction to aerospace engineering : basic principles of flight Aerodynamics is the study of forces and the resulting motion of objects through the air. This word is coined with the two Greek words; aerios concerning the air and dynamis meaning force. Judging from the story of Daedalus and Icarus humans have been interested in aerodynamics and flying for thousands of years although flying in a heavier than air machine has been possible only in the last century. Aerodynamics affects the motion of high speed flying machines such as aircraft and rockets and low speed machines like cars trains and so on. Therefore aerodynamics may be described as a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air particularly when it interacts with a solid object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics with the difference being that gas dynamics applies to all gases.