By: Alex Guindon & Nate Schoberg

The Problem Nate and I wanted to know what design of a paper

airplane would fly the farthest. We needed something to fly the airplanes with the

same power, angle, and height, but what. We tried using a fan and some card board to make a

ramp, but it didn’t work. Then we tried another ramp that the paper airplanes would go down and then almost jump off of the top of the ramp. It still didn’t work.

We then saw a video that used a launcher to launch the paper airplanes with hooks to fly it. We used a similar design and it worked. We then built a launcher to launch the airplanes using rubber bands, cardboard, metal hooks, and plastic hangers.

The Launcher Me and Nate used a card board base that

looked like a right triangle about 2 feet tall. We used steel hooks on the top and

bottom of the card board. We tied yarn to the hooks from top to bottom. The whole idea for the string was to make the plane launch straighter before lift off. There was also a hook on the straight side of the card board to hold the rubber band.

The Launcher Part 2. To launch the plane we added a pen cap at

the bottom of the planes. On the rubber band we taped a plastic hook to

flick the paper airplane instead of throwing it with our hands.

When we stuck the pen cap through the hook it would fling the paper airplane. We drew a line near the end of the card board to stretch the rubber band to the same spot each time. This is how we tested the paper airplanes.

The Launcher Part 3. To measure the distance of the paper

airplane’s. We used a meter stick to place Post It Notes at each meter. We placed 7 Post It Notes to represent 7 meters.

When the plane landed we took the meter stick and measured how many centimeters there were on that test.

For each plane we launched them 3 times at the same spot each time and averaged up their distances so we which one went the farthest overall.

The Hypothesis We had to fold and construct 7 different

airplanes using regular printer paper and some tape.

The seven different airplanes were called the Moth, the Champ w/ tape, the Champ without wing folds w/tape, the Dart, the Arrow, the Kite, and the Kite w/tape. These types of planes are the most known and easy paper airplanes to make.

After throwing the paper airplanes we found out the Moth flew the farthest. So we both thought the Moth would fly the farthest.

The Moth-First Paper Airplane Test We tested the Moth first because this

one was thought to go the farthest.

The Moth-Test Results

The Moth Test 1: 3 m 10 cm = 310 cm Test 2: 4 m 84 cm = 484 cm Test 3: 2m 81 cm = 281 cm Average = 358.8 Centimeters

The Dart-Second Paper Airplane Test The Dart did not fly straight while we

were throwing it around, but had surprising results in the end.

The Dart-Test Results

The Dart Test 1: 5 m 56 cm = 556 cm Test 2: 6 m 73 cm = 673 cm Test 3: 7 m 19 cm = 719 cm Average = 649.3 Centimeters

The Arrow-Third Paper Airplane Test This paper airplane had surprising results as well.

This is the standard paper airplane most people know about.

The Arrow-Test Results

Test 1: 5 m 70 cm = 570 cm Test 2: 6 m 38 cm = 638 cm Test 3: 5 m 61 cm = 561 cm Average = 604 Centimeters

The Kite-Fourth Paper Airplane Test and Results The Kite was another plane that looks

very similar to the Champ with its square like body.

Test 1: 5 m 77 cm = 577 cm Test 2: 5 m 53 cm = 553 cm Test 3: 4 m 48 cm = 448 cm Average = 525 Centimeters

The Kite without tape-Fifth Test Results On this plane we had seen a difference

in distance between tape on the plane or not. So we decided to have this as another plane test.

Test 1: 5 m 25 cm = 525 cm Test 2: 2 m 56 cm = 256 cm Test 3: 3 m 42 cm = 342 cm Average = 374.3 Centimeters

The Champ- Sixth Test Results The Champ looks like a square shaped

paper airplane with flaps on the wings. It is known for holding the world record for staying in the air for 27.6 seconds by Ken Blackburn.

Test 1: 2 m 74 cm = 274 cm Test 2: 7 m 39 cm = 739 cm Test 3: 1 m 90 cm = 190 cm Average = 401 Centimeters

The Champ Without Wing Folds-7th Test Result We wanted to see if the wing folds on

the Champ would make any difference in the flight of the airplane. It looks like it did.

Test 1: 1 m 5 cm = 105 cm Test 2: 18 cm = 18 cm Test 3: 1 m 75 cm = 175 cm Average: 99.3 Centimeters.

Conclusion: What was the answer. When Nate and I wanted to know which paper airplane

would fly the farthest, we had to make a launcher to fly the paper airplanes with the same power, and force to get the closest result to the right answer. We thought The Moth would have gone the farthest because it would take off in one’s hand. I guess we were wrong with our hypothesis. Off of the launcher, The Dart went the farthest with an average of 649.3 centimeters. We think this plane went very far because when it was beginning to fly, the point at the start of the plane cut though the air and kept on flying. We can’t conclude what plane will fly the farthest, but with all the planes we tried, The Dart flew the farthest off of our launcher.