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Can we make a paper airplane that can fly 15 meters?

Hypothesis: I don’t believe our paper airplane will reach 15 meters. In my opinion, I think 15 meters is too far and that we won’t construct an airplane with the capability to do so.

Dependent Variable: the airplane will fly further due to extra weight – with a result of a more controlled force

Independent Variable: 2 paper clips added to the front and back of the airplane (one on each side + each wing)

Controlled Variable: the length of the airplane will be 30cm long

Materials: 3 pieces of paper (8×11 inches), 8 paper clips

Airplane models:

1. controlled –> 30cm long (11inches), normal paper airplane (basic model)
2. 4 paper clips (2 in the front 2 in the back), 30cm long (11inches), normal paper airplane (basic model)
3. 8 paper clips (4 in the front 4 in the back (in the same place)), 30cm long (11inches), normal paper airplane (basic model)

Distance in Meters in Airplane Flight:

Trial 1     Trial 2     Trial 3     Trial 4     Trial5      Average Distance

1. original airplane:       9m       7 1/2m    8 1/2m       9m        8 1/2m              8 1/2m
2. 4 paper clips:         8 1/2m         8m           9m       8 1/2m       9m                   8.6m
3. 8 paper clips:         9 1/2m         9m           8m         10m       9 1/2m               9.2m

The hypothesis, our paper plane that would 15 meters is rejected. The data shows that 15 meters was too far to try to achieve. The paper plane with more paper clips flew farther, but only up to 10 meters. The paper airplane with no paper clips flew the least. The results of this investigation are useful because we discovered that the paper clips helped increase the distance the plane flew. The investigation can be improved by adding more paper clips in the same places to increase the distance until it reaches 15 meters (possibly place them differently).

Other questions that need to be answered are: Why does the extra weight result in a larger distance? Wouldn’t it fly farther if there was less weight –> in result of it falling slower?

I learned that results of experiments are risky due to the changes each trial. If there were to be a next time, instead of adding the weight by adding paper clips each time, I would try using different sizes of paper.