For each flight, write down how far the paper plane travels (in centimeters or meters ). In your lab notebook, create a data table like this one. What provides thrust to a real airplane?.How do you think you could change how much drag a paper plane has?.What is drag and how does it affect airplane flight?.How will adding drag affect your plane's flight? You can answer this question with just a flick of your wrist. You will investigate how far the basic paper plane flies and compare that to how far it flies when the drag is increased. Well, what do you think? Would you like to start experimenting with these forces? In this aerodynamics science project, you will make a basic paper plane and then slightly alter its shape to increase how much drag is acting on it. When a paper plane is flying, the four forces of thrust, lift, drag, and weight are acting upon the plane, affecting how well its journey through the air goes. These forces are counteracted by drag that acts in the opposite direction as thrust and gravity which will constantly pull the plane towards the ground.įigure 1. Figure 1 below shows how all four of these forces, thrust, lift, drag, and weight, act upon a paper plane.Ī paper airplane in flight will experience an initial thrust forward which begins its flight and lift from air which will help push it upward. Weight is the force of Earth's gravity acting on the paper plane. Finally, the weight of the paper plane affects its flight and brings it to a landing. The force of the air pushing your hand back as you move forward is drag. To think about drag, imagine you are in a moving car and you put your hand outside of the window. As a paper plane moves through the air, the air pushes against the plane, slowing it down. If the paper plane has enough thrust and the wings are properly designed, the plane will have a nice long flight.īut there is more than lack of thrust and poor wing design that gets a paper plane to come back to Earth. While the plane is flying forward, air is moving over and under the wings and is providing a force called lift to the plane. That push is a type of force called thrust. When you throw a paper plane in the air, you are giving the plane a push to move forward. A force is something that pushes or pulls on something else.
These same forces apply to real airplanes, too.
Watching it float and glide in the air gives you a very satisfying and happy feeling.īut what allows the paper plane to glide through the air? And why does a paper plane finally land? To find out, we will talk about the science behind flying a paper plane and the different forces that get a paper plane to fly and land. Just fold a piece of paper into a simple plane and send it soaring into the sky with a flick of your wrist. Paper airplanes are fun and easy to make.
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