Use Sophia to knock out your gen-ed requirements quickly and affordably. Learn more
×

Best Paper Airplane

Author: Jason Fritz

Paper Airplane Lab Overview

We are going to design an experiment to test paper airplane flight distance.
We want the planes to fly as far as they can.
We need to think about how we are going to design and perform the experiment.
What things do we need to think about? (Think about the steps of the Design Method)

The Secrets of The World Record Paper Airplane Design

John Collins, "The Paper Airplane Guy," tells us how he designed his world record paper airplane. Plus, Will and Norm throw the airplane in a "friendly" competition.

How To Fold and Tweak a Great Paper Airplane

John Collins, "The Paper Airplane Guy," walks us through folding the "Nakamura Lock" and then improving on the paper airplane with simple calibrating tweaks.

The Forces on an Airplane

How do airplanes fly? It's not magic. Learn about the forces that help (and hinder) airplane flight.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Source: MITK12Videos

How Do Airplanes Fly?

Source: MinutePhysics

How Airplanes are Made

Source: MinutePhysics

Safari Montage Videos

Click on link and sign into Safari Montage like you would a school computer.


Wright Brothers' Flying Machine Brothers' Flying Machine

NOVA presents the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented the first powered airplane to achieve sustained, controlled flight. The program chronicles the brothers' lives -- from their first job running a bike shop to their invention of the airplane, relates the duo's pursuit of manned flight and their resolve to develop a workable aircraft, shows how information was obtained on experiments by previous innovators, looks at the obstacles to manned flight that the brothers tackled, explains how lift occurs with an airfoil, describes the first powered flight and looks at improvements the brothers made to their first design, discusses the measures the brothers took to protect their invention and keep their designs secret and follows a modern-day team building and flying reproductions of the Wright brothers' gliders and powered planes. Features interviews with the world's foremost Wright experts. 

55 min 14 sec

Eyewitness: Flight

The BBC presents this program that combines the story of a manned flight with a celebration of nature's great fliers -- from birds to insects. Discover how human designers borrow ideas from the natural world to build today's sophisticated machines. One in a multivolume series on natural wonders.

26 min 15 sec

Flight

For thousands of years, humans dreamed of flying -- but it isn't as easy as birds make it look. Students will learn about lift, gravity, thrust and drag -- the forces that are used to get tons of steel off the ground and carry people thousands of miles before landing safely. They will also discover the role atoms and air pressure play in this amazing task as well as in other forms of flight. An interesting hands-on activity is included along with fun, real-life demonstrations to further illustrate these concepts. One of 16 volumes in the Physical Science in Action Video Series in the Schlessinger Science Library. 

25 min 20 sec


Bill Nye: Flight

With the help of his team of young scientists and some common household items, Bill Nye the Science Guy demonstrates how airplanes, birds, and helicopters create differences in air pressure to develop lift for flying. This live-action, fast-paced program also features comedy, music videos, interviews with real scientists, and hands-on experiments to make the concepts presented understandable and fun.

21 min 2 sec