11/13/17
B Block
Science Essay Question
In the Paper Airplane Lab Activity, we flew many different types of paper airplanes as a class. The goal and purpose of the lab was to try to design a plane that could fly the farthest distance. We each tested our own paper airplane two times and we recorded the distance, time, and speed of our paper airplane. We found the average of our distance, time, and speed and turned that into our final data. The reason we tested it twice was because it was more accurate that way. For my paper airplane, the average distance was 26.5 ft, which was decent compared to others. My paper airplane had an average time of 1.43 seconds and an average speed of 18.87 ft/sec. In terms of distance, the smaller …show more content…
The four main forces that allow a paper airplane to fly properly are thrust, lift, drag, and gravity. When you throw a paper airplane forward, the plane is given a push force known as thrust. Lift is a force that helps the plane move up due to the air that moves under and over the wings. Drag force makes the paper airplane slow down because the air pushes back against the plane. Gravity is the force that pulls the plane down. There were many factors that influenced the flight and speed of the plane. One factor that greatly affected the flight and speed of the plane was the design/wing surface area of the plane. The surface area of the wings of the plane needed to be firm and stable in order for the plane to have lift force. Another factor that affected the flight and speed of the plane was throw angle. The throw angle should be around 30 to 45 degrees. Another factor that affected the speed and the flight of the plane was throw force. Throw force has importance because if the plane is thrown with little to no force then the plane won’t go too far. The more folds to a paper airplane meant that it required more throw force. Another factor that affected the speed and flight of a plane was the weight of the paper airplane