Things That Fly
Part 2:
Paper Planes
We built the word's farthest flying airplane (well in theory)!
We built the word's farthest flying airplane (well in theory)!
Here's a picture of the three planes that we built! (From left to right) The Seagull, The Standard, The Champ
In this project, we were given the task of designing an experiment to test three different kinds of airplanes. We were trying to test which airplane would fly the farthest distance from our starting point. In experiments, the tester is trying to find cause and effect relationships. Cause and effect relationships help to determine why things happen. For example, the weight of a paper airplane may determine how far the plane flies. A heavier airplane may cause the plane to fly a shorter distance than one that is lighter. Elements that can vary or change in an experiment are called variables.
Independent Variable
The independent variable is the one factor that the creator of the experiment decides to change. They only choose one to change so that they can be certain that the changes are occurring as a result of changes in that variable. In this experiment, the independent variable is the airplane design (how we folded the airplane).
Control Variables
In order to tell what is changing in the experiment, scientists need to keep all other variables besides the IV constant. This means that for each trial, every other variable in the experiment has to be the same. The factors that the experimenter is keeping the same are called control variables. In our experiment, some of our control variables were where we threw the plane from (we marked a spot), the type of paper that we used and who threw the plane.
As you can see from the graph, the Champ flew much farther than the other two.
Let's take a look at the science behind the plane!
In order for the plane to take flight, it needs the force of a push to make it go forward. The potential energy that I have is turned into kinetic energy when the plane takes flight. There are three forces that are acting on the plane when it is in the air; gravity, air resistance and lift. To the left, you can see a diagram demonstrating this phenomena.