#PAPER AIRPLANE HOW TO#

Now try to throw your airplane only using your wrist.

How far can you throw your plane? How much do you move your arm when you throw it?

Practice throwing your paper airplane using your entire arm.

There will be some pull on the hook, so make sure it's secure. The outer straight part of the paper clip should point backward parallel to the bottom of the plane, so it can serve as a hook to attach to the rubber band.

Tape or staple a paper clip to the nose of each paper airplane.

Ensure that they are all built the same for this activity. Because paper airplanes can get bent or destroyed easily, it's a good idea to build more than one.

Build several paper airplanes to test.

#PAPER AIRPLANE HOW TO#

If you don't know how to make a paper airplane, instructions are available online and in many books.

To do this project you will need to know how to build a basic paper airplane.

Open area to launch paper airplanes (without wind or strong drafts).

Examples include cardboard, building toys such as LEGO® or K'NEX®, or wood. You can use whatever materials you have available.

Construction materials to build a paper airplane launcher.

It's much more effective than just using your wrist!

It stores potential energy, which gives extra kinetic energy (motion energy) to the paper airplane-even over a short distance. In this project you will build one using a rubber band. You don't need any compressed air or electromagnets to build your own airplane catapult, however. The catapult hooks on to the plane and helps it accelerate over a much shorter distance so that it can get enough speed and lift to take off. This catapult provides extra energy from a source such as compressed air or electromagnets to help the plane gain extra speed. Airplanes can't gain enough speed to take off on their own over such a short distance, so they get an extra boost from a type of catapult (not the big wooden kind you might imagine flinging stones at castle walls). The largest aircraft carrier is just longer than 1,000 feet, which is still less than a quarter of a mile. Although aircraft carriers are huge compared with most other ships, they are very small compared with land-based airports and runways. They also need a lot of space to land safely and slow down from such high speeds.Īircraft carriers are large ships with runways on them that allow aircraft to take off and land in the open ocean.

This is why airport runways are usually very long (sometimes longer than a mile): because planes need a lot of space to gain enough speed to take off. The faster an airplane goes, the more lift it generates. In order to take off, an airplane has to generate enough lift (upward force due to air pushing on the plane) to overcome its weight (downward force due to gravity). It's hard, isn't it? How could you get a paper airplane to fly far if you can use only a short distance to launch it? Try this activity to find out! Here's a challenge: Try throwing a paper airplane by moving just your wrist (don't move your elbow or shoulder).

Paper airplane