Name ___________________________ Date __________ Core ________ Page _____
Physical Science
Paper Airplane Lab
In December of 1903, the Wright Brothers became the first people to successfully
fly a plane with a person in it. The plane flew one hundred twenty feet and flew only
about twelve seconds. They had three successful flights that day, but Wilbur made the
longest flight of 892 feet and stayed up for about 59 seconds. In 1903, the Wright
Brothers made their first powered airplane that they named the "flyer." It was a biplane
(two winged plane) that had a 12 horse power engine that they had built themselves.
The wings were 40 feet wide, wooden, and covered with cotton cloth. The pilot would lay
on the lower wing on his stomach and steer the plane. In 1908 the Wright Brothers
finally made a plane that could fly for more than one and a half hours. (from
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112389/airplanes.htm)
In order for their plane to get off the ground, the Wright brothers needed to do
many experiments using what we know as a process known as experimental design.
Experimental design is the way that scientists gather information and test ideas. In this
lab, you will examine experimental design and run some of your own tests using
something you probably know a great deal about, paper airplanes. You will use
experimental design to analyze how a change of the plane affects its motion, or
specifically, its time in flight.
OBJECTIVE
 Demonstrate the principles of experimental design using paper airplanes.
 Measure the time of the plane in flight.
 Explain how changes in the design of your airplane affect its motion.
MATERIALS
 Several sheets of plain paper
 Stopwatch
 3 Paper clips per group
 Paper airplane instructions (http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/)
PROCEDURE
Part I. Observation
A. Construct an airplane out of plain paper. This will be the first test plane or the
control.
B. In teacher designated area, throw the plane and measure, in seconds, how long
the plane stays in flight AND how far it went. Record your measurements in the
Table 1.
C. Repeat letter B two more times so that you have three recordings. Take the
average and record it in the data table. (Hint: The average is the sum of all three
flights, divided by three.)
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Part II. Forming a Hypothesis
From your observations, you must next form a hypothesis about what will happen to the
time the plane is in flight and to its distance when you make ONE change in the design.
Remember a hypothesis is a possible answer to a question, a solution to the problem,
or even an educated guess.
Hypothesis 1: If I ________________________ to the plane, then its time in flight will
___________________________________.
Hypothesis 2: If I ________________________ to the plane, then its flight distance
will __________________________________.
Part III. The Experiment
An experiment is a controlled procedure designed to test a hypothesis.
A. Make ONE change to your plane’s design. Complete three trials of timing how long
the plane stays in flight and how far it flies. Record in data table 1. Take the
average and record it in the data table.
B. Make THE SAME change to your plane’s design to a larger degree. Complete three
trials of timing how long the plane stays in flight and how far it flies. Record in
data table 1. Take the average and record it in the data table.
C. Make THE SAME change to your plane’s design to an even larger degree.
Complete three trials of timing how long the plane stays in flight and how far it
flies. Record in data table 1. Take the average and record it in the data table.
Part IV. The Data
Table 1
Flight 1
Time
Distance
(seconds) (meters)
Flight 2
Time
Distance
(seconds) (meters)
Flight 3
Time
Distance
(seconds) (meters)
Average
Time
Distance
(seconds) (meters)
Control
Plane
Plane with
1st change
Plane with
2nd change
Plane with
3rd change
Graph 1: The average flight time of each plane. Complete a line graph that shows
how your change affects average time in flight. Title your graph. Place the independent
variable (the change you made) on the X axis and the dependent variable (the time in
flight) on the Y axis. Create four lines, use a different color for each plane.
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_________________________________________
Graph 2: The average flight distance of each plane. Complete a line graph that
shows how your change to the airplane affects average distance in flight. Title your
graph. Place the independent variable (the change you made) on the X axis and the
dependent variable (the flight distance) on the Y axis. Create four lines, use a different
color for each plane.
_________________________________________
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Part V. Analysis of Results.
1. Was your 1st hypothesis supported or rejected? _____________________________
2. How do you know this? (Explain how the average flight time of the control plane compared
to the average flight time of the changed airplane.)
_________________________________________________
3. Was your 2nd hypothesis supported or rejected? _____________________________
4. How do you know this? (Explain how the average flight distance of the control plane
compared to the average flight distance of the changed airplane.)
_________________________________________________
5. List two control variables in the experiment. (Variables that remained the same during the
experiment.)
a.
_____________________________________
b. _____________________________________
6. What was the independent variable (what you changed) in the experiment?
_________________________________________________________________________
7. What was the dependent variable (what you measured) in the experiment?
_________________________________________________________________________
8. Summarize what this experiment tells you about how your change affects the motion of the
plane.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
9. If you did this activity again, what changes would you make to the plane?
__________________________________________________________________________
10.Why was it important to conduct three trials for each plane instead of only flying it once?
__________________________________________________________________________
11.What are some qualitative observations you made about your plane? (These would be
characteristics that you observe with the five senses.)
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12.What are some quantitative observations you made about your plane? (These would be data
that you measured.)
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