“Amy’s Aviation, with support from the
Royal Aeronautical Society”
Have you ever made a paper plane? They’re
brilliant fun aren’t they? And all you need
is a piece of paper! It can be tricky to get
them 100% right though. Some are like darts
and go for ages. Others, well others, just
crash land on the carpet!
My mates are always pretty impressed at mine
though – but that’s because I take a few
tips from real planes. Shall I show you my
secrets? Alright! Tip one is to make your
plane aerodynamic – that’s making it into
a shape that travels smoothly through the
air. I know what you’re thinking “how
on earth am I supposed to know what shape
that is?!” Don’t panic! It’s EASY to
find out. What we need is a little experiment.
Naah! We don’t need anything like that!
Just a bit of paper! First part of the experiment
is to hold it up high – as high as you can
and then… drop it! Watch how it falls downwards.
See how it zig zags and swings as it floats
downwards through the air. Now crumple the
paper into a little ball. Squeeze it as hard
as you can, and make it as tiny as possible.
Now drop it again. Three two one….
Much quicker wasn’t it! You can’t see
the air but you’ve just seen the effect
it has on things. When something has a large
surface area – like the piece of paper when
it was flat, the air can press against it
and slow it down. Screwing it up makes it
more aerodynamic – and so it’s able to
move through air more easily as it has less
surface area on show.
So when you’re making a paper plane think
about how many surfaces it’s got – and
whether that might slow it down! Which all
reminds me of how you can win a very cheeky
game against your mates…
Here’s how. Give your mates a piece of paper
and say you challenge them to get the paper
in the bin in one throw. Now they’ll be
throwing the sheet of paper loads of times
as it flutters and sways about. When it’s
your turn, use your aerodynamic expertise
to simply crumple it up into a ball… and
get it in first time!
On our quest to make the perfect paper plane,
for the next tip we need some real planes.
Paper planes are a lot like real planes. OK
they don’t have engines or fuselages – that’s
the bit the people and pilot sit in. But the
same things keep them both up in the air.
Look! Here’s a plane about to take off.
It’s going along the runway faster and faster.
Can you see its wings are curved on top? This
shape makes air flow faster over the top of
the wing than it does underneath. And the
faster the air flow, the lower its pressure.
So… the pressure on top of the wing is lower
than underneath, and the result is upward
lift – and up and away goes our plane!
So there’s another tip - if you want to
make your paper plane LIFT, you’ll need
some surfaces like wings on them. Now wings
come in all shapes and sizes – wide flat
ones, skinny ones like darts, so there’s
stacks to try out.
To keep that lift under the wings, air has
to keep moving over the wings. That means
the plane has to keep going too! If it stops,
any ideas what would happen?
Yup, you got it, the plane’s going DOWN.
We call the forward motion THRUST – real
planes get it from their engines. Have you
ever blown up a balloon and let it go without
tying the end?
It flies around the room like crazy doesn’t
it? The air pushes the balloon around. That’s
thrust in action. Paper planes get thrust
from your hand – so a tip for your paper
plane is to give your plane a really good
throw! You could experiment with balloons
for thrust too.
Now I’m not saying your experiments will
turn up the perfect plane first time but real
aircraft engineers test and refine their designs
all the time – so take a tip from them and
keep at it! You can find some designs to start
you off on the Fun Kids website if you need
a bit of help to get going.
Looks like it’s time for me to fly! Chocks
away!
“Amy’s Aviation, with support from the
Royal Aeronautical Society. Find out more
about aviation at funkidslive.com / aviation”
