Alex Bowdler year 2
St John Bosco Primary School
Question: Which paper aeroplane flies the furthest?
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Introduction
Paper aeroplanes are always fun to make and fly. The aim of this research is to work out
which design flies the furthest.
Hypothesis
The plane with the biggest wings will fly the furthest.
Design
Which paper aeroplane flies the furthest?
Independent variable
The shape of the plane
Dependent variable
Distance travelled
Controlled variables
Paper size and weight
Environmental conditions
Paper aeroplane launcher
People throwing planes
Methodology
Five different designs of paper aeroplane will be chosen and each one folded three times.
The same paper will be used for each plane. The planes will be labelled
1A, 1B, 1C – split nose cone dart (Morris 1983)
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2A, 2B, 2C – long distance glider (Morris 1983)
3A, 3B, 3C – super dart (Morris 1983)
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4A, 4B, 4C – long distance paper airplane (Simon2162 2011)
5A, 5B, 5C – long distance paper glider (Brown 2008)
The testing will take place inside a hall so the environmental conditions will be the same.
Initially each plane will be thrown five times with the paper aeroplane launcher for
consistency and distance measured to the point where plane hits the ground.
Three people will then be allocated to plane A, B or C and each plane thrown five times. The
distance will be measured to where the plane hits the ground.
A laser distance measurer will be used to measure the distance for each flight.
The average distance travelled of each design will be worked out to see which one flies the
furthest.
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Research
There are four forces that act on a plane when it’s flying. Drag, lift, weight and thrust – this
need to be in balance for the plane to fly (Scholastic 2014).
Drag is a mechanical force that slows down the plane (or a backward force). It is a
resistance of the plane through the air like friction (Benson 2014a). Lift is the force that
holds the aeroplane in the air (or an upward force). The wings generate the most lift. As
the plane flies through the air, the air pushes the plane upwards to keep it in the air (Benson
2014b). Weight is the gravitation force from the earth (or downward force). The other
forces required for flying need to overcome the weight of the plane (Benson 2014c). A
paper aeroplane is very light they can avoid some of the effects of gravity (Paper Plane
Mafia 2013). Thrust is the last force that acts on flying. When throwing the paper aeroplane
thrust (or forward force) has to work against the drag to keep the plane flying forward
(Benson 2014d)
(Shaw 2014)
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Results
Summary of averages
10
9
8
7
6
People
5
Plane launcher
4
3
2
1
0
Plane 1
Plane 2
Plane 3
Plane 4
Plane 5
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Result data plane launcher
Plane
Design
Design 1
Plane
launcher
Throw
1
Throw
2
Throw
3
Throw
4
Throw
5
Average
distance
Plane A
3.217
3.119
2.974
2.918
3.082
3.062
Plane B
3.785
3.472
3.691
3.987
3.857
3.7584
Plane C
3.039
3.014
3.1
2.357
3.066
2.9152
Total
average
3.245
Design 2
Design 3
Design 4
Design 5
Plane A
3.499
3.277
2.802
3.211
3.45
3.2478
Plane B
3.506
3.633
4
3.166
3.995
3.66
Plane C
3.244
3.323
3.251
1.235
3.478
2.9062
Plane A
2.391
1.526
1.564
2.735
1.527
1.9486
Plane B
1.457
3.433
4.208
2.735
2.5
2.8666
Plane C
3.757
3.68
3.431
3.742
3.958
3.7136
Plane A
2.99
3.052
2.74
2.803
2.553
2.8276
Plane B
2.783
2.833
3.048
3.033
2.924
2.9242
Plane C
2.487
2.772
2.741
2.865
2.842
2.7414
Plane A
2.03
1.867
1.652
1.413
1.462
1.6848
Plane B
1.36
1.578
1.874
1.463
1.609
1.5768
Plane C
1.539
1.136
1.54
1.027
1.141
1.2766
3.271
2.842
2.831
1.512
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Result data – people throwing
Plane
Design
Design 1
People
Throw
1
Throw
2
Throw
3
Throw
4
Throw
5
Average
distance
Plane A
2.88
4.087
3.25
2.435
3.052
3.1408
Plane B
5.007
7.53
5.689
3.992
3.892
5.222
Plane C
6.092
5.606
3.812
7.891
7.29
6.1382
Total
average
4.833
Design 2
Plane A
1.759
4.793
7.304
5.008
5.468
4.8664
Plane B
3.169
3.416
4.936
2.807
4.806
3.8268
Plane C
6.76
6.609
7.134
7.666
8.216
7.277
5.323
Design 3
Plane A
4.218
5.074
2.934
4.038
2.057
3.6642
Plane B
8.46
3.357
3.699
3.95
2.178
4.3288
Plane C
4.247
1.965
3.719
5.494
5.228
4.1306
4.041
Design 4
Plane A
1.763
1.668
3.776
2.715
3.006
2.5856
Plane B
3.232
3.01
4.553
4.791
3.29
3.7752
Plane C
2.61
7.444
4.141
7.612
4.22
5.2054
3.855
Design 5
Plane A
1.486
2.834
1.178
3.907
3.304
2.5418
Plane B
4.427
3.035
3.484
3.995
2.797
3.5476
Plane C
3.955
2.143
2.565
1.96
3.791
2.8828
2.990
A Alex
B Lily
C Tony
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Area of Wings mm2
6000
5000
4000
3000
Area of Wings mm2
2000
1000
0
Design 1
Design 2
Design 3
Design 4
Design 5
Discussion
From the results of testing design number 2 flew the furthest with both the plane launcher
and people throwing it. Design 3 however had the biggest wing span.
The weight of each paper aeroplane was the same as each aeroplane was made out of the
same size and weight of paper. The thrust of the launch of the plane was the same force
with each launch of each plane. The various numbers of flights with different people was to
get an average allowing for different thrust force of each throw and person.
The drag and lift of the paper aeroplane would be different depending on the different
designs of the plane. In doing this testing it was learnt that there are a lot of different forces
that all work together to make the paper aeroplane fly.
Conclusion
The hypothesis is therefore incorrect. It is not the area of the wing that makes the paper
plane fly the furthest. But combinations of the four forces lift, thrust, drag and weight.
If this testing was to be done again the method of testing would be the same. However, the
winning design should be compared to other designs to see if it is still flies the furthest. It
would be interesting to conduct the experiment again and use different weights of paper to
see how that affected the distance flown.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge and thank my dad for building the paper plane launcher and
helping me choose and make all the planes. He and my sister also were the other plane
throwers.
My mum also helped with making the graphs and setting out the report.
The Engadine Gymnastics club for letting me use the hall for the testing.
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Bibliography
Benson, T 2014a. What is drag?
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/drag1.html
Benson, T 2014b. What is lift?
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/lift1.html
Benson, T 2014c. What is weight?
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/weight1.html
Benson, T 2014d. What is thrust?
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/thrust1.html
Brown, S 2008. Long distance paper glider
http://www.instructables.com/id/Long-Distance-Paper-Glider
Morris, C 1983. Advanced paper aircraft construction – easy to follow instructions for 14
flyable models. Cornstalk publishing, Australia
Paper Plane Mafia 2013. How do paper airplanes fly?
http://paperplanemafia.com/how-do-paper-airplanes-fly
Scholastic 2014. What makes paper airplanes fly?
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-makes-paper-airplanes-fly
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Shaw, RJ 2013. Dynamics of flight
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/dynamicsofflight.html#forces
Simon2162 2011. Long distance paper glider
http://www.instructables.com/id/long-distance-paper-airplane
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