1. Literature Review
a. Physics of Paper Airplanes (www.exampleessays.com essay)
This paper is about the things needed to make a paper airplane fly. There are many things that contribute to a planes ability to fly. Some such things are weight, velocity, lift, and drag. Weight is relevant because the weight is directly related to gravity. In order to make the plane fly better it stands to reason that it needs to be lighter so that the pull of gravity will not be as great. Velocity is the initial push the plane gets when it is released. The greater push it is given the longer it will stay in flight. Velocity is directly affected by drag, which is the friction in the air that it is flying through. The lift is what keeps the plane flying and is created when flow is present. Flow is a current of air that is either flowing with or against the airplane, and this direction affects how far the airplane will fly (www.exampleessays.com, 2012).
This paper is relevant to my experiment because in order to create a proper testing area, it is important to know what effects the environment will have on the plane. In addition to that it puts the question as to would it really matter what kind of paper was used for the plane? Would that slight difference in weight of varying types of paper really make a difference in a controlled environment on how far the paper airplane would fly? My hope is to find an answer to that question with my experiment.
b. Physics of Paper Airplanes (www.123helpme.com essay)
This paper also covers what affects the paper airplanes flight length. In this paper, lift is the main topic discussed and goes in depth to provide information on how lift works. It also covers air drag, density, and pressure. There are formulas to determine exactly what amount of drag, density, pressure, or force is applied or felt during the flight of the airplane. The items discussed in this paper are more advanced than what will be included in my experiment but it provides a great deal of information to base my experiment on as well as factors that will alter the results (www.123helpme.com, 2012).
This paper is relevant to my experiment because it provides information to better plan my experiment to eliminate more factors that will affect my results. As with the paper listed above, my hope is to use this information to better plan and execute my experiment to find if the slight difference in paper weight of the paper airplane would affect how far the plane would go.
2. Experimental design
a. Design plan steps
i. Form Hypothesis and Question to be answered ii. Gather supplies
1. Tape measure
2. Paper for airplanes
a. Construction
b. Poster board
3. Masking tape
4. Design for plane (retrieve from paper airplane making book)
5. Extra person
6. Paper and pencil to record data iii. Use book to build paper airplanes using the construction paper and poster board iv. Find a place with no interference from the environment to do the experiment (in this case, a hallway/room that is 20 feet long).
v. Use the tape measure and masking tape and create a start line and from that point mark each foot with a piece of tape. vi. Have your helper stand by the testing area with the tape and have them ready to mark where the airplane lands when it is thrown. vii. Perform the experiment, having the same person throw each time, and have the helper mark each contact point when the planes are thrown. viii. Measure marks using the markings on the floor and the tape measure for the areas in-between each foot. ix. Draw a conclusion based on the data collected.
b. Reasoning
I chose this design plan because it contained the amount of interference with the results and it would gather the information needed in as concise a manner as possible. By gathering the materials in advance and by making the planes and marking out the testing area in advance it allows more time to concentrate on the actually testing and recording of