Science Discovery Award

Our class, as part of an engineering experiment, designed and made paper airplanes. Our experiment investigated what allows the paper plane to glide through the air and examine why a paper plane finally lands. We talked about the science and engineering behind flying a paper plane and the different forces that get a paper plane to fly and land, the same forces that apply to real airplanes, too. We discussed how a force is something that pushes or pulls on something else.When you throw a paper plane in the air, you are giving the plane a push to move forward. That push is a type of force called thrust. While the plane is flying forward, air is moving over and under the wings and is providing a force called lift to the plane. If the paper plane has enough thrust and the wings are properly designed, the plane will have a nice long flight.