Paper Airplane Design Experiment
Simone Cook
Student ID: 011037286
C683 – Natural Science Lab Performance Assessment
Western Governors University
, Section I: Introduction and Literature Review
A. Aerodynamics is the foundational principle behind paper airplanes. Aerodynamics
encompasses studying the study of the forces that make objects move through the air. Just like
how the forces of drag, gravity, lift, and thrust make it so paper airplanes can fly. This
experiment is to understand how various designs impact those four forces and allow the paper
airplanes to fly as far as possible. (Middleton, 2021)
There must be balance, amongst the four forces in flight, when creating and throwing paper
airplanes. Thrust and drag are opposing forces, as are lift and gravity. For this experiment it’s
important to limit changes in thrust used, while incorporating designs with a pointed nose tip and
lightweight body, limiting the drag. This creates a better balance between the thrust and drag.
There might be an imbalance when it comes to lift and gravity for some of the paper airplane
designs, due to using the same material (8 ½ x 11 standard printer paper) will limit changes in
gravity to create consistency. The discrepancy comes in when it comes to the wing design. Each
of the paper airplane designs have different wing sizes and designs, which changes the lift of the
paper airplane. (Powers, 2021)
Section II: Hypothesis
B. My hypothesis is that Design 3: Tail Spin will fly the furthest out of the five-paper airplane
designs due to the pointed nose, which will limit the drag (pull back) of the paper airplane. Also,
the ends of this design are folded up on the left side and folded down on the right side, this is to
increase the lift of the paper airplane, further increasing the design’s ability to outfly the other
designs. (Powers, 2021)
Simone Cook
Student ID: 011037286
C683 – Natural Science Lab Performance Assessment
Western Governors University
, Section I: Introduction and Literature Review
A. Aerodynamics is the foundational principle behind paper airplanes. Aerodynamics
encompasses studying the study of the forces that make objects move through the air. Just like
how the forces of drag, gravity, lift, and thrust make it so paper airplanes can fly. This
experiment is to understand how various designs impact those four forces and allow the paper
airplanes to fly as far as possible. (Middleton, 2021)
There must be balance, amongst the four forces in flight, when creating and throwing paper
airplanes. Thrust and drag are opposing forces, as are lift and gravity. For this experiment it’s
important to limit changes in thrust used, while incorporating designs with a pointed nose tip and
lightweight body, limiting the drag. This creates a better balance between the thrust and drag.
There might be an imbalance when it comes to lift and gravity for some of the paper airplane
designs, due to using the same material (8 ½ x 11 standard printer paper) will limit changes in
gravity to create consistency. The discrepancy comes in when it comes to the wing design. Each
of the paper airplane designs have different wing sizes and designs, which changes the lift of the
paper airplane. (Powers, 2021)
Section II: Hypothesis
B. My hypothesis is that Design 3: Tail Spin will fly the furthest out of the five-paper airplane
designs due to the pointed nose, which will limit the drag (pull back) of the paper airplane. Also,
the ends of this design are folded up on the left side and folded down on the right side, this is to
increase the lift of the paper airplane, further increasing the design’s ability to outfly the other
designs. (Powers, 2021)
