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Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

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Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#41
post #11

My interest in science started when a friend and I folded a few paper planes, tested them over a small downhill section outside my house, made notes about what worked, tweaked and experimented with new designs, and so on. It blew my little mind that with structured experimentation you could design things that actually got better with each generation. Where would the improvements stop? With hindsight, I realise that m…

Was it this [1] program? [1] https://archive.org/details/thegpa

[deleted]

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#43
post #40

As a kid I had a great book with lots of science experiments in it called "Science Is" (Author: Susan V. Bosak) It had an entire section on airplanes but there was one that absolutely destroyed my intuition about flight and to this day confuses adults whenever I get the chance to make it (something like a team building event where we need to make paper airplanes). It's literally two hoops of paper and a stick. Here's…

Let me guess how this works: from the nose view, the paper strips being at one side cause the stick to angle toward it, since the center of mass is close to the stick than the center of the drag force due to the stick's relatively small cross section for its mass. This causes the craft to keep pitching up. In addition, the same difference in cross sections between the hoops and the the stick from the plan view give it roll stability. Meanwhile, the larger hoop being at the back causes more drag, giving it yaw stability.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#44
post #40

As a kid I had a great book with lots of science experiments in it called "Science Is" (Author: Susan V. Bosak) It had an entire section on airplanes but there was one that absolutely destroyed my intuition about flight and to this day confuses adults whenever I get the chance to make it (something like a team building event where we need to make paper airplanes). It's literally two hoops of paper and a stick. Here's…

It's not clear from the webpage, but does it do something different from a paper airplane with just 1 hoop like this? https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/ring-wing-glider...

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#45
post #20
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link?

This was the YouTube video where I think the person makes the same design as the one I remember: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t2sozrof3HY

Interesting. I had learned a similar design back in the late 1970's early 1980's in school from classmates. I have learned some designs from books, but I guess we had a decent oral tradition, passing down good designs from grade to grade back then.

It was probably the combination of available letter-sized sheets of paper (old homework) and some free time (recess and/ study hall).

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#46
post #11

My interest in science started when a friend and I folded a few paper planes, tested them over a small downhill section outside my house, made notes about what worked, tweaked and experimented with new designs, and so on. It blew my little mind that with structured experimentation you could design things that actually got better with each generation. Where would the improvements stop? With hindsight, I realise that m…

I've found "Paperang paper airplane" to be the best. It is pretty hard to fold properly because the margin of error is thin, but it is really a fun one

"The Basic" should not even be on the list. Doesn't fly.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#47
post #11

My interest in science started when a friend and I folded a few paper planes, tested them over a small downhill section outside my house, made notes about what worked, tweaked and experimented with new designs, and so on. It blew my little mind that with structured experimentation you could design things that actually got better with each generation. Where would the improvements stop? With hindsight, I realise that m…

"Great International Paper Airplane Book" [0] was my drug.

[0] https://archive.org/details/greatinternation00mandrich

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#48
post #40

As a kid I had a great book with lots of science experiments in it called "Science Is" (Author: Susan V. Bosak) It had an entire section on airplanes but there was one that absolutely destroyed my intuition about flight and to this day confuses adults whenever I get the chance to make it (something like a team building event where we need to make paper airplanes). It's literally two hoops of paper and a stick. Here's…

The two rings + stick design was also in "The Great International Paper Airplane Book": http://www.codex99.com/design/images/airplane/18_lg.jpg

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#49
post #44
post #40

As a kid I had a great book with lots of science experiments in it called "Science Is" (Author: Susan V. Bosak) It had an entire section on airplanes but there was one that absolutely destroyed my intuition about flight and to this day confuses adults whenever I get the chance to make it (something like a team building event where we need to make paper airplanes). It's literally two hoops of paper and a stick. Here's…

It's not clear from the webpage, but does it do something different from a paper airplane with just 1 hoop like this? https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/ring-wing-glider...

I would make variations of those ring gliders from an aluminum coke cans cut down to half-height, something heavy like dict tape on the leading edge to provide weight.

You throw them fast and underhanded imparting a bit of spin — they'll sail across a gymnasium.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs (2013)

#50
post #3

I used to love making the ring wing glider: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/ring-wing-glider... In addition to being able to glide very far, you could launch it with a meter stick.

I used to make the ones out of this book.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671555510

They are a bit finicky to make, but fly very nicely. One day a friend and I were messing around and added a dumb amount of weight to the front of one. Think it was a clip his mom used to dry cloths outside. Nearly doubled the weight and put the center of balance way near the front of the plane. We expected a nosedive. Gave it a toss and it 3x'd the flight length easily. It was already fairly decent and you could easily get across a room with little changes. Now it was easily getting across his yard.

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