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Paper Airplane Lab

In December of 1903, the Wright Brothers became the first people to successfully fly a plane with a person in it. The plane flew one hundred twenty feet and flew only about twelve seconds. They had three successful flights that day, but Wilbur made the longest flight of 892 feet and stayed up for about 59 seconds. In 1903, the Wright Brothers made their first powered airplane that they named the "flyer." It was a biplane (two winged plane) that had a 12 horse power engine that they had built themselves. The wings were 40 feet wide, wooden, and covered with cotton cloth. The pilot wouldlie on the lower wing on his stomach and steer the plane. In 1908 the Wright Brothers finally made a plane that could fly for more than one and a half hours.

In order for their plane to get off the ground, the Wright Brothers needed to do many experiments using what we know as the scientific method. The scientific method is the way that scientists gather information and test ideas. In this lab, you will examine the scientific method and run some of your own tests using something you probably know a great deal about, paper airplanes. You will use the scientific method to analyze how mass of the plane affects its motion, or specifically, its time in flight.

OBJECTIVE

  • Demonstrate the principles of the scientific method using paper airplanes.
  • Measure the time of the plane in flight.
  • Explain how changes in mass affect the motion of objects.

MATERIALS PER GROUP

  • Paper
  • Stopwatch
  • 3 paper clips
  • Paper airplane instructions (printed from:

PROCEDURE

Part I. Observation

Establish the average flight time of a paper airplane.

  1. Construct an airplane. This will be the first test plane or the control. Remember, a control is used in an experiment to compare other experimental results against.
  2. Throw the plane and measure, in seconds, how long the plane stays in flight AND how far it went, in meters.Record your measurements in Table 1.
  3. Repeat step B two more times so that you have three recordings. Take the average and record it in the data table. (Hint: The average is the sum of all three flights, divided by three.)

Part II. Forming a Hypothesis

From your observations, you must next form a hypothesis about what will happen to the time the plane is in flight and to its distance when you add mass. Remember a hypothesis is a possible answer to a question, a solution to the problem, or even an educated guess.

Hypothesis 1: If I add mass to the plane, then its time in flight will ______.

Hypothesis 2: If I add mass to the plane, then its flight distance will ______.

Part III. The Experiment

An experiment is a controlled procedure designed to test a hypothesis.

  1. Add a paperclip to the middle of the plane. Complete three trials, timing how long the plane stays in flight and how far it flies. Record in data table 1. Take the average and record it in the data table.
  2. Add a second paper clip next to the first paper clip. Complete three trials, timing how long the plane stays in flight and how far it flies. Record in data table 1. Take the average and record it in the data table.
  3. Add a third paper clip next to the first paper clip. Complete three trials, timing how long the plane stays in flight and how far it flies. Record in data table 1. Take the average and record it in the data table.

Part IV. The Data

Data is any information gathered in an experiment.

Table 1

Flight 1 / Flight 2 / Flight 3 / Average
Time
(seconds) / Distance
(meters) / Time
(seconds) / Distance
(meters) / Time
(seconds) / Distance
(meters) / Time
(seconds) / Distance
(meters)
Control Plane
Plane with 1 paper clip
Plane with 2 paper clips
Plane with 3 paper clips

Graph 1: The average flight time of each plane. Complete a line graph that shows how mass affects average time in flight. Title your graph. Place the independent variable (the number of paper clips) on the Y axis and the dependent variable (the time in flight) on the X axis. Create four lines, using a different color for each plane.

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Graph 2: The average flight distance of each plane. Complete a line graph that shows how mass affects average distance in flight. Title your graph. Place the independent variable (the number of paper clips) on the Y axis and the dependent variable (the flight distance) on the X axis. Create four lines, using a different color for each plane.

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Part V. Analysis of Results.

  1. What was your hypothesis 1? ______
  2. Was your hypothesis supported(correct) or rejected (incorrect)? ______
  3. How do you know this? (Explain how the average flight time of the control plane compared to the average flight time of the heavier planes.)______

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  1. What was your hypothesis 2? ______
  2. Was your hypothesis supported (correct) or rejected (incorrect)? ______
  3. How do you know this? (Explain how the average flight distance of the control plane compared to the average flight distance of the heavier planes.)______

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  1. List two controlled variables (things that are kept the same)in the experiment.
  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. What was the independent variable (what you changed between trials) in the experiment? ______
  4. What was the dependent variable (what you measured each trial) in the experiment? ______
  5. What does this experiment tell you about how mass affects the motion of an object? ______

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  1. Using your graph, predict how far, in meters, the plane would fly if it had 4 paper clips. ______

Using your graph, predict how long, in seconds, the plane would fly it had 4 paper clips. ______

  1. How could you apply this to a real-life situation? ______

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