Home >> Science & Nature >> Science

How to Build Fast and Far-Flying Paper Airplanes

While flying a paper airplane in English class will probably land you in detention, creating one in science class will teach you about aerodynamics. You can create a fast and far-flying airplane by adding weight to the nose with a paper clip, designing rudders on the wing tips and making more creases on the wings to add stability and lift. You should also design the plane with sufficient dihedral, which is the angle of the wings across the top of the fuselage. The fuselage should make a "V" shape as you hold and aim the airplane if your dihedral is good. A good airplane design for fast and far-flying results is the basic dart.

Things You'll Need

Paper, 8-1/2 by 11 inches

Instructions

- 1
  Fold the paper in half lengthwise. Crease the fold sharply with your finger. Unfold the paper.
- 2
  Fold down the top-left corner until it meets the center fold, making a small triangle. Do the same thing with the right corner. The top of your paper should now be a sharp point. Your paper will look like a square with two identical triangles sitting on top.
- 3
  Fold the corner of the left outside edge to the center fold and crease sharply. Repeat this step with the right outside edge. Turn the airplane over.
- 4
  Fold the outside edges of the airplane up until they meet. Crease the middle fold sharply.
- 5
  Turn the plane 90 degrees. The nose of the airplane will point to the left. Measure 1-1/2 inches from tip of the nose. Starting at that point, fold down the top outside edge to make a wing. The bottom corner of the wing should drop a 1/2 inch below the original center fold. Turn the airplane over with the nose pointing right. Fold the top outside edge down exactly as you did on the other side.
- 6
  Bend up the outside tail edges of the wings and fold down to give the airplane lift when it flies.
- 7
  Hold the paper airplane's fuselage close to the nose, aim and launch your dart airplane!

Science