Center of pressure is defined as the point along the chord line of an airfoil through which all aerodynamic forces are considered to act.

• A. The point along the chord line of an airfoil through which all aerodynamic forces are considered to act.
• B. An airfoil
• C. The leading edge
• D. The trailing edge

Answer: (A)

Center of pressure is the point along the chord line where the resultant aerodynamic force on an airfoil can be considered to act. This comes from combining the distributed pressure over the surface into a single force; instead of many little pressures, you can treat the wing as having one force acting at this point. That location isn’t fixed at the leading or trailing edge and it isn’t just “an airfoil” in general—it shifts with angle of attack and the airfoil’s shape. As lift changes, the center of pressure moves along the chord (typically toward the trailing edge with increasing lift), reflecting how the pressure distribution changes. The other options describe parts of the wing or the airfoil itself, not the location where the resultant aerodynamic force acts.