Easy Air Resistance Investigation (No Materials Required)

Teach students about air resistance with scrap paper! This paper plane lab will have all students engaged and learning. You can use any kind of paper you can find on hand, construction paper, lined paper or even just plane paper.

Total Time: 30 minutes
Materials:

Paper

Questions to Ask Before Building

How do you think a paper airplane stays up in the air?
What might help an airplane stay in the air longer?

Steps:

Students will use paper to create a paper airplane. Encourage them to start with a simple design instead of spending time perfecting it.
They will throw the plane twice to see how far it will go.
Students should note the distance the object went.
They will then redesign their airplane with new paper.
They will repeat steps 2 and 3 again with their new airplane.
They will make a third design and fly them 2 more times and record their distance.

Before the Redesign

What do you plan to change for the second and third redesigns?
What do you predict will happen after your redesign?

Questions to Ask After Completing the Activity

Which design worked best? Why?
If you had one more chance to redesign your airplane, what would you change?
How did testing help you improve your design?
What force is your paper plane fighting?
How does your paper plane compare to keeping real planes up in the air?

FAQ

What if my students don’t know how to make paper planes?

You can encourage students to work together so they have someone else to support them. Additionally, if they have access to technology (computer and or tablet) let them look up paper airplane designs. There are many to choose from!

Should students measure distance or simply compare which flew farther?

If this is an informal activity to be done quickly students can just keep a mental note of how far it flew. If you want to be very precise you can have them measure it with a measuring tool. My favorite idea is actually giving students some blue painters tape. They can put a small piece on the ground where it landed and even document what design it was (i.e Design A, Throw 2).

How does this investigation connect to air resistance?

When a paper airplane flies through the air the air pushes against the paper plane making it slow down and eventually stop. Some designs create less air resistance which makes the plane fly farther than other designs. This investigation shows students the importance of plane design and how air resistance can change how the object moves.