Physics Lab
Paper Airplane Exploration
Pre-Lab Questions
1. Explain in your own words what speed means.
______
______
______
2. Suggest a technology or piece of equipment that might be used to measure distance, time and speed.
______
______
______
3. List five different (and realistic) ways to travel a distance of 15 km.
______
______
______
The first step to understanding speed is to practice measuring the two quantities involved in its calculation: distance and time. In this activity you will use a meter stick and a ruler to measure the distance covered by a paper airplane. Three different styles of airplane should be made for this activity. Their design will be left up to you! The challenge is to create a design that will cover the greatest amount of distance.
1. What factors will you consider when designing a paper airplane that must cover the greatest distance possible?
______
______
______
Now it is time to build 3 paper planes! You will be supplied with 4 pieces of paper, 10 cm of tape and a pair of scissors. You will have 40 minutes to build your planes. In this time you may PROPERLY test out your design, and go back to re-vamp.
2. Use Table 1 to help you record your data. Measure the distance covered and the time by each plane three different times. Calculate the average for each plane from the three recorded distances.
______
______
______
3. Which of your designs covered the greatest distance? Why do you think this was the case?
______
______
______
4. Which design covered the least distance? Why do you think this was the case?
______
______
______
5. How accurate do you think your measurements were?
______
______
______
6. Why do you think an average was used to determine the distances covered by different airplane designs?
______
______
______
7. Why is the displacement and the distance the same in this instance?
______
______
______
Table 1: Airplane measurements
Paper Plane Design(Sketch) / Wingspan
(cm) / Distance Covered
(m) / Time (s) / vav (m/s)
Plane 1 / Trial 1 / Trial 1
Trial 2 / Trial 2
Trial 3 / Trial 3
Average / Average
Plane 2 / Trial 1 / Trial 1
Trial 2 / Trial 2
Trial 3 / Trial 3
Average / Average
Plane 3 / Trial 1 / Trial 1
Trial 2 / Trial 2
Trial 3 / Trial 3
Average / Average
General Tips for Airplane Construction
1. Work on a hard, flat and clean surface. Use a flat, smooth and hard surface where you can do the sharp and precise folds without crushing the other parts of the paper. Make sure the surface is also clean - even small grit may spoil your paper aircraft when you press it down to make some fold.
2. Keep your unsuccessful models When you start making paper airplanes some of the models will go nowhere. Sometimes the paper will crush or tear, sometimes you'll just lose interest. My advice is not to throw away these models at least for a while. They are excellent to refresh your memories what didn't work, why and how it can be fixed.
3. Use a ruler A simple ruler can make even the hardest folds easy and fine. It prevents the paper from folding and crushing on the wrong places and helps you feel more stable and secure.
4. Experiment Making paper airplanes is supposed to be fun. There's nothing wrong if instead of the model you planned to make you end up with something else. Don't be afraid to experiment - sometimes the best paper aircraft comes in an unexpected way.
Tips for Straight and Stable Flight
1. Design the paper plane to be heavier at the nose. This helps to ensure forward Center of Gravity to prevent the paper plane from stalling in the air. Aircraft stability is improved when weight is added to the front of the plane.
2. If your airplanes tend to nose-dive due to heavy nose, bend the edge of the wing upwards slightly.
3. Design the paper airplane with rudders at the wing tips. This is a common feature in many paper airplane designs. Having the rudders will help to reduce airplane yaw (nose moving from side to side during flight) and thus prevent it from flying in circles and helps the airplane to fly straight.
4. Add more creases to the wings to provide greater stability and lift.
5. Fold with precision. Uneven folding will result in a lopsided plane.
Tips for Speed and Distance
1. If you like your paper airplane to fly (or glide) slowly and further, design the paper airplane with longer wings span but smaller wing area. This concept is widely used to design gliders planes.
2. On the other hand, if you want to make a paper airplane fly faster, make the wing shorter relative to the fuselage length (this is called low aspect ratio) and design a sharp and thin nose.
3. Wing span is the thing that really improves gliding distance (this is why sailplanes have long wings, but they have very narrow wings to try to reduce their wing area).
Tips adapted from:
http://www.airplane-collectible-best-net-resource.com/make-paper-airplane.html
http://www.ideamarketers.com/?making_paper_airplanes&articleid=762811