folding airplanes :)

Quick recap of what I am actually doing ~

My experiment will answer the question:
'How does size of paper used to make paper airplanes affect their flight.'

I will be testing the following types of paper aeroplanes:

source: http://www.10paperairplanes.com/

So now I have followed the instructions on the site above and have folded the airplanes I will be using.
Of course, I will fold each multiple times since I will be repeating the experiment countless times.. *cough* *cough*, nah, just kidding.. I will.

Btw, this site has cool animations, just thought I'd show you guys an example:























Here's a pic of my airplanes I made & I will be using. Obviously 'The Dart' could use some refinement.

I tried flying them and in my opinion the arrow has the smoothest and fastest flight. Although, the stealth is meant to be the fastest of them... oh well, must be some human error in that.

climograph

here is the completed climate graph:

awesome looking plane launcher.

Today, I decided I was going to paint a design on my airplane launcher. I used the design of a t-shirt that one of my favourite youtube blogger, Mychonny designed!!

source: http://panicpop.com/pages/roverice.php

And here is my lame attempt at art.. I know, many details are lacking & I ran outta white paint towards the end;

Took me sooo long to do, so, hope you like it!!

things that make you go "grrrrrr..."

Grrrrr ... someone is doing an almost identical experiment as me. I mean look at it this way, im sure identical twins such as these guys:

would not like to be compared but be individuals in their own right.
Just had to get that off my chest.. laters gee!

approved & plane launcher stuff & percy the pig.

ok so first thing first, my experiment has been given the all clear! yippppe! So yesterday, i went to Bunnings, and bought my materials for my plane launcher.

plank of craft wood, a daisy for decoration, and PVA glue :)

following my trip to Bunnings, i went to the fantastical Royal Easter Show; saw the cows, pigs, horses, rides, showbags.. blah, blah, blah, but the highlight was that I won this pig! *oink* *oink*

meet, Percy the Pig!

Anyways, I hope all who are bothered enough and bored enough to have been following my blog have a HAPPY & SAFE HOLIDAYS!! I see you guys next term.. or before then, cya gee!

How I will conduct the experiment?

My experiment will answer the question:
'How does size of paper used to make paper airplanes affect their flight.'
 
Following the research about the aerodynamics of paper airplanes/planes in general and brief plane launcher design, here is a rough summary of how I will conduct the experiment.

Equipment:

Independent Variables:

- model of airplane

- size of paper

Dependent Variables:

- length of flight

- nature of flight (not sure if I should do this one)

ie, pattern of flight of the plane, how quickly it descends.

Controlled Variables:

- type of paper used

- wind speed in surrounding environment (that will be 0km/h as I will conduct at home)

- length elastic band is pulled back (is there a name of that?)

- height of release

Method 1:

Using the three models of airplanes I had previously decided on, I will launch each model from the plane launcher.

I will vary the size of paper used, starting from an A4 size followed by paper of smaller sizes.

I will then measure the distance travelled by each airplane of each model. Record the results, repeat the experiment, and of course, analysise.

Method 2:

A method similar to the first, with the difference of recording the 'nature of the flight'.
ie, recording the actual flight of the airplane and perhaps graphing it.

designing the plane launcher.

I found this video on youtube by user: MattB667 , uploaded on November 17, 2009. I wanted to adopt the 'plastic hook & rubber band' part of the method, and will be adding to the design myself.

'cut a hook out of plastic as shown in the next picture.'

'push the point of the hook throught the base of the plane so it pokes out underneath it,
and the rest of the hook resides in the middle of the plane.'

My plane launcher will have a base, probably made out of a plank of wood. Then, it will have two nails, nailed down a reasonable distance apart. And attached to each nail will be one end of the elastic band (or any elastic material) that the airplane will be hooked onto. The elastic band will then be pulled back and effectively 'launch' the plane.

So, it will hopefully look something like this: