Paper Airplane Case Study

PROBLEM Does a paper airplane designed with more surface area allow the plane to stay aloft a longer amount of time?

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Several forces combine to affect an airplane’s ability to fly.
Thrust – A push that provides the plane with its initial acceleration
Lift - Air moving under the wings of the plane providing an upwards force
Drag – Air pushing against the plane, causing it to slow down
Weight – The weight of the paper airplane that brings it to a landing
Gravity – The weight of the force of the Earth’s gravitational pull

HYPOTHESIS
I believe that model number 6 with stay in the air the longest. I think this because the design allows the plane to have a large amount of surface area on the wings, which should allow for upwards lift as the plane

Paper Airplanes Link (2011). A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions. Retrieved October 31, 2015 from http://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2 Select a design from the list and fold a piece of paper into the selected design by following the instructions. Make sure that you fold carefully and that your folds are as sharp as possible. Repeat step 2 nine more times so that you have a total of 10 paper planes. They should all be different. Make a data table in your lab notebook, where you can record the data you get from your experiment. Go to a large open area to fly your plane. Make sure that there is no wind or other weather variables that may affect your results. Practice throwing your air planes. It is important to launch each plane exactly the same way every time. Hold each plate in the same spot on the plane every time you launch. Begin the experiment by launching (throwing) you first plane. Have a partner start a stop watch when the plane first is released from your hand. Stop the timer when the plane hits the