Flight Test

1. Flight Test By Byron Morgan 1-28-2011

2. Summary: • In this experiment I tested whether an Old Fashioned paper airplane would go farther compared to two of the most modern paper airplanes.

3. Question: • Are the new paper airplanes designed by experts really an Improvement over the the simple “Old Fashioned” planes we used to make as kids?

4. Hypothesis: • I think that an “Old Fashioned” plane will go farthest. • Kids have been making these planes planes for years and they work great.

5. Information • Wings Carry the Plane Through the Air • As the plane moves forward, its wings cut through the air to generate a small amount of lift. As the air rapidly flows over and under the paper wing, a tiny vacuum is formed over the top of the wing to hold the plane aloft. As the forward motion diminishes, the airflow over the paper wing slows and the lift is reduced. As the thrust and lift subside, a properly designed paper airplane should glide to a safe landing. • From: eHOW.com Continued next slide

6. A Paper Airplane is Designed with Wings When a paper airplane is designed, the builder folds the sheet of paper to provide maximum wingspan to support the plane for prolonged flight. As with general aviation, paper airplanes may be designed with different wing configurations for speed or lofty, prolonged flight. In addition, some designers choose to add a small weight to the plane to keep it stable in flight. The Plane Receives Thrust From the Thrower For any airplane to fly, it must have both thrust and lift. The wings provide lift for the airplane as described in Section 3 below, but the thrust must originate from outside the plane. As with any other form of aviation, the plane's lift overcomes the force of gravity and the plane's thrust must be enough to overcome the laws of inertia. When the paper airplane is thrown, it is thrown with enough force to overcome its tendency to remain still. Some people prefer to throw the plane at a slight upward angle to maximize the amount of time the plane moves forward (using thrust to move slightly upwards and gravity to continue moving). The angle at which the plane should be thrown is dependent on the plane's design.

7. As the plane moves forward, its wings cut through the air to generate a small amount of lift. As the air rapidly flows over and under the paper wing, a tiny vacuum is formed over the top of the wing to hold the plane aloft. As the forward motion diminishes, the airflow over the paper wing slows and the lift is reduced. As the thrust and lift subside, a properly designed paper airplane should glide to a safe landing. • Read more: How Does a Paper Airplane Fly? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4567589_paper-airplane-fly.html#ixzz1CvS939rb

8. Materials: • Three Paper airplanes. • Ladder • Tape measure • Ruler • Tape

9. Procedure: • 1) Different paper airplane designs. • 2) Make them. • 3) Test them three times. • 4) Repeat steps 1,2 and, 3 until found the right paper airplanes. • 5) Test the “Old Fashioned” plane against the two best modern planes three times.

10. Data

11. Graph of Flight Distances in Feet

12. Byron throwing the Fancy Flyer

13. Summary of Results: • Old Fashioned won. • Worlds Best was second. • Fancy Flyer was last.

14. Conclusion: • Old Fashioned paper airplane went the farthest distance. • Worlds Best went the second farthest. • Fancy Flyer was the worst flyer because the Fancy Flyer would go in circles. • The hypothesis that the simple planes we made when were young do well against the newer planes was confirmed.