Designing Fast and Slow Airplanes and Measuring Velocity

In this activity, students will hypothesize and test which factors affect the speed of the plane (e.g. mass, shape, force thrown, etc.)
Students will discover that, in order for speed to decrease, distance must decrease or time must increase.
Students should discover that planes that are sleeker have less air resistance and therefore travel faster.

This activity is intended for high school physics or physical science but may easily be adapted for junior high. This activity can be completed in a class period. Students may work in teams of three or four. This activity may be used at the beginning of a motion unit or in fluid dynamics.

Describe the challenge to the students; they are to build a fast plane and a slow plane. Students are divided into groups of three or four. Next, they brainstorm ways of designing two types of paper airplanes, one that travels fast and the other that travels slow. Students then construct these using paper, tape, scissors, and paper clips. Once they have their final planes made they will set up time trials and measure the distance and time spent in the air with meter sticks and stopwatches in order to find the velocity. They then record three trials for each type of plane. After all groups have run their trials groups will line up and release their planes at the same time. This might be easier if groups compete in a round robin style tournament to judge the fastest and the slowest airplanes. Next, students will write a conclusion that compares and contrasts the two styles of planes and explain what factors cause a plane to travel faster or longer. They willl also describe sources of errors Student handout (Microsoft Word 32kB Sep10 08)

- Before you begin this lab, you might want to discuss the idea of air resistance.
- If you have a small classroom, you might what to try this in a gym or hallway.
- I plan on using old assignments for paper in order to save on paper.
- After the activity is over you may close this by showing pictures of different birds and discuss how there bodies are adapted to certain types of flight. Geese and swans have very large wings to allow more air to collide with their wings so they may hover. Falcons have very sleek bodies which gives them enough speed to catch other birds in the air.

Students are to collect data as a group, but each student will be responsible for writing a conclusion. Student should recognize in these reports that planes with larger wings collide with more air and as a result stay in the air longer.

I.B.1 Design experiment and analyze data
I.B.3 Apply model to data and support conclusions
I.B.4 Identify sources of error
I.D.2. Describe effects of friction and gravity
I.E.2. Identify dominant forces in a system