Introduction:
Wondering if an airplane aspect ratios actually affect flight time, a hypothesis is created to state what is to be observed and tested during a scientific experiment. the independent variables for our experiment will be airplane design, and aspect ratio of the plane wings using span^2/ chord. The dependent variables are flight time. Basically, the point of the experiment is to observe if wing aspect ratio affects flight time. The hypothesis is if the aspect ratio is increased, the flight time will increase parabolically when flight time is a parabolic function of aspect ratio. This independent variable was chosen because instead of different flight designs the original idea for modifications is used but in a different…show more content… Planes will be made out of 8 ½ x 11 office grade 24 pound acid washed printer paper. The paper is a very common paper that can be picked up at any office store or supermarket. The launcher will be made out of a solid 1 x 6 piece of white pine, cut down into sections so that it could be routed, stained, varnished and angle the wood so the launcher has visual appeal and a pre-angled 45 degree launch pad so it would always have the best launch and so that flight time could be maximised. The launcher is built to envelope a drawer roller/track so that another piece of wood can slide freely inside of the wood casing so that a plane can be placed in a groove in the top of the launcher so that the free-sliding piece of wood can be pulled back, and push the airplane out of the launcher by hitting the base of the plane ( pictures provided below , as well as a diagram for visual understanding)…show more content… Then the planes will be launched from the launcher, each with 3 trials. The trials will then be measured with a stopwatch to see how long it keeps itself suspended in the air from launch to descent to impact. Along with the measure of time in air the distance will be measured or calculated, as well as the highest point it went in the air, this will allow for calculations of velocity of the plane so it can be seen how the aspect ratio effects the velocity. Finally analysis of the data will show both raw data and statistics in the paper. For safety, goggles will be needed so the paper airplanes will not be able to be projected into someone’s cornea.
The prediction for how aspect ratio will affect flight time is that as aspect ratio goes up the plane’s flight time will increase parabolically so that as the aspect ratio goes up, flight time increases until the flight time gets as long as it can possibly get, due to air resistance and drag, the flight time will actually start decreasing from where the aspect ratio gets so high that the wings get too large causing the plane to become unstable, eventually causing the plane to just fall to the ground , same as what would happen with an aspect ratio of