Purpose: To understand two or more forces acting on an object, including gravity and friction
Problem: Why don't paper airplanes stay in the air forever?
Background: A force is a push or pull on an object. Depending on if these forces are balanced
or unbalanced; they can cause an object to move. Two unbalanced forces that we experience everyday are the forces of friction and gravity
Friction is a force that opposes motion as one object rubs against another. This is a force that always acts in the opposite direction of the object's motion. Gravity is another force that pulls all objects toward each other. Due to Earth's extremely large mass, all objects close to Earth are attracted toward it, like a magnet. Thus, gravity acts on objects in a downward direction toward the center of Earth.
Hypothesis:_______
Materials: Paper, meter stick Procedure:
1. Make a paper airplane
2. Run three trials of your plane. Record the distance of each trial and then calculate the average. Include units!
Data Table:
Trail I. Trail 2. Trail 3
______ _____ _____
Average Distance:_______
3. Modification:
Modify your plane in some way (make the wings a different shape, add a paper clip, adjust the tail, etc.)
How did you modify the plane?_______
4. Run three addition trails of your plane. Record the distance of each trial and then calculate the average. Include units!
Data Table:
Trail 1. Trail 2. Trail 3
____. ______ _____
Average Distance:______
Questions: Answer each question in complete sentences.
1. What provided the force that caused your airplane to move? Was this force balanced or unbalanced?
_______________
2. What forces caused your airplane to slow down and come back to Earth? Were these forces balanced or unbalanced?
_______________
3. When the airplane was resting on the floor, was gravity still working? What about friction/air resistance? Explain vour answers
__________
Conclusion: (1. restate purpose, 2. was your hypothesis correct or incorrect, 3. give an example of how your hypothesis was correct or incorrect, 4. why do you think it happened that way, 5. tell what you learned, 6. how would you do this differently? Don't forget to write in complete sentences.)
Conclusion:
1. The purpose of the experiment was to understand two or more forces acting on an object, including gravity and friction.
2. Since no hypothesis was provided, it cannot be determined whether it was correct or incorrect.
3. The forces that caused the paper airplane to slow down and come back to Earth were gravity and friction. These forces were unbalanced, as they acted in the opposite direction of the plane's motion, ultimately causing it to decelerate and eventually come to a stop.
4. When the airplane was resting on the floor, gravity was still working, as it is a constant force that pulls objects towards the center of the Earth. Friction/air resistance also acted upon the airplane, as it was in contact with the floor. However, these forces were balanced when the airplane was at rest.
5. From this experiment, I learned that the forces of gravity and friction/air resistance play a significant role in the motion of objects, such as paper airplanes. They can cause the objects to slow down and come to a stop.
6. If I were to conduct this experiment differently, I would consider measuring other variables, such as the weight or size of the paper airplanes, to see how they affect the performance and flight distance. Additionally, I would also explore different modifications to the plane, such as changing the shape of the wings or adjusting the tail, to see how they impact the distance traveled.