Hobbies And Interests
Set-Up the Experiment
Choose an indoor area with a lot of space such as a gymnasium or large hallway. Gather the equipment for the experiment. You will need copy paper, a tape measure, masking tape, a stopwatch, and a chart to record your results. Place a long piece of masking tape on the floor as the starting mark and instruct each student to stand behind the line when they throw their airplanes.
Make the Airplanes
Each student or group of students should make five of the same paper airplane. The more alike each of their paper airplanes, the more accurate results they will achieve. Instruct the students to choose a simple, but unique design so you can compare the results at the end of the experiment and determine which design is more aerodynamic. Have students number their airplanes one through five.
Make a Result Chart
The result chart should have one column numbered one through five on the left-hand side. This column's title is "Throws." Title a column to the right of the numbers "Distance" and another "Time." Make several copies of the result chart. Give one chart to each student or group of students.
Conduct the Experiment
Students will take turns throwing their paper airplanes. Record the time between lift-off to landing using the stopwatch. Have the students write down this number between each airplane on their results chart in the "Time" column. Between each group or student, have them record the distance from the masking tape to each airplane and record this in the "Distance" column. Then instruct them to gather their airplanes before the next group's turn.
Calculate the Average Speed
Tell students to find the average between the three middle distances. The longest and shortest distances are referred to as outlying data and will make the average less accurate, so do not include these in the calculation. Do the same for the time. Once students have an average distance and time for their design, give them the formula to calculate speed (Speed= Distance/ Time). Compare the average speed of airplanes among the students and groups to determine which design is more aerodynamic.