Introduction:
We were assigned to create a paper airplane that corrected the many inaccuracies of these planes including how to maximize accuracy and distance. We were given four paper clips, four inches of tape, and four sheets of paper, construction or printer, to construct our planes. I used minimal materials which included one sheet of 8.5x11 inch printer paper. Description of Operation: My paper airplane was designed to be aerodynamic so that distance and accuracy were both maximized. The original tip of the plane was folded backwards to extend the overall life of the plane. Its “life” is referring to how many times an airplane can be thrown without becoming worn and unreliable. By folding back the pointed tip, there was nothing that could become bent. The resulting front of the airplane was flat, and this design allowed the impact to be distributed over a larger surface. Explanation of Competition and Performance Data: The distance competition was set up with three tape measurers. Two of those tape measurers were extended to their max length of 25 ft, and the last tape measurer was extended to make up for the rest of the 30 ft. Students were to throw their planes starting at the 0 ft mark to see how far their planes would travel. Students were also given a second throw to determine how fast their plane could travel. To determine the speed of the planes two students were stationed at the 15ft markers and timed how long it took for an airplane to reach them. After this, students tried to hit various targets to determine how accurate their planes were. My plane performed very well in the distance portion of the competition and went way past the 30ft mark. As to the speed of my plane, it traveled rather slowly. When trying to hit the targets, my plane tended to curve left and miss, so I ended up having to aim to the right of the targets to hit them. Overall, my plane flew far distances but was only mediocrely accurate. Calculations: SPEED= (Distance/Time)= (15ft/.43sec)= 34.9ft/sec Conclusion: I enjoyed this project. My plane was a very successful paper airplane. I was pleased with how far it flew and how stable the flight was. In the future I would like to design a plane that flew with a higher accuracy. To accomplish this I would add a tail to the end of my paper airplane. Appendix: Work Cited: "Secret Paper Aeroplanes - How to Make Splendid Paper Airplanes." Secret Paper Aeroplanes - How to Make Splendid Paper Airplanes. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2015. |