This study was performed to practice the different science skills, scientific methods and paper airplanes. We know about aerodynamics and the four forces that plays a part in flight which are Thrust, Lift, Drag, and Weight. Weight force comes from gravity pulling on objects and aircrafts need something to push them in the other direction from gravity. Lift is the force that push the object or something up and airplanes need more lift than weight like hot air could make something rise, Plane Engines supports the heating part for the lift. Drag is a force that tries to slow something down. Thrust is the force that is the opposite of drag. It's the push that moves something forward.
The question that my group chose to investigate was, what makes a paper airplane fly best? Then we did a little research and found out that thrust is the forward movement of the plane. Paper airplanes are really gliders, converting altitude to forward motion. The wings of a plane are curved so that the air moves more quickly over the top of the wing, creating an upward push, or lift on the wing. Planes are said to have a lot of "drag" to moving through the air. If you want your paper airplane to fly as far as possible, make sure your plane has as little drag as possible. A paper airplane has four forces in balance: drag, gravity, lift, and thrust. Type the link below to see our cite source. (http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-makes-paper-airplanes-fly). We hypothesized that if a paper airplane is made smaller, then it will fly farther because it will move smoothly through the air. .
Materials: The materials that were needed was one piece of black construction paper, two white pieces of printing paper, glue, a small piece of aluminum foil, and a pen. The glue was used to glue on the small piece of aluminum foil to the tip of the black construction paper after it was made into a paper airplane.