Wings of Flight
Photo by Doug Kelley on Unsplash
Insects, bats, and even some gliding squirrels and fish can take flight into the air — none of them can match the speed, agility, and strength of birds. Some birds can even fly as fast as 55-65 mph, which is the speed of a car on a highway! While birds can’t compete with real airplanes, what about paper airplanes? We challenge you to use your science and engineering skills to build paper airplanes that correspond to bird wing shapes.
Tools
Paper/Notebook and writing utensil
2 sheets of same sized paper (use newspaper, printer paper, construction paper, etc.)
Audubon for Kids’ These Paper Airplanes Fly Like Birds
Measuring tape (optional)
Learn Engineering’s How do Airplanes fly? (option to watch)
Steps
Step 1: Construct a paper airplane and test its flight capabilities. Measure and record how far the plane goes. You can measure in footsteps, your body length, or with a measuring tape. For ideas and step-by-step instruction, look through this database of paper airplanes.
Step 2: Compare your airplane to a bird. Planes were built to mimic birds. Besides having wings that work together to enable them to fly, bird bodies have evolved for flight to include hollow bones, bird keel (tails), reduction of head and nose bones, and other special characteristics. Find the bird’s wing shape that best resembles your paper airplane using the Audubon for Kids activity, “These Paper Airplanes Fly Like Birds” (see in Tools above).
Step 3: Research your favorite bird. Record how it flies (flaps, glides, or soars). Using the Audubon for Kids activity as your guide, build another paper airplane that corresponds to your favorite bird’s major wing shape.
Step 4: Test your second plane. Measure and record how far it goes. Remember to measure the same way you measured in Step 1 (footsteps, body length, or a measuring tape).
Step 5: Take some time to reflect on both of your planes. Record your thoughts on paper or out loud with your family or friends. Think about the forces that help an airplane fly – lift, thrust, drag, weight. Which plane traveled further? Which plane flew higher? Did you throw both planes with equal force, or did you throw one harder than the other? Which plane is more aerodynamic? Is one plane heavier in the front where there are more folds or is the weight evenly distributed throughout the plane?
To Do or Learn More:
If you are up for a challenge, can you design your favorite bird in paper airplane style? Watch these videos for inspiration: Swallow Plane or Storm Petrel. Also, is it possible to add weight to the nose (for their beak), body (for their tail, body length, and wingspan), and undercarriage (as if the bird caught something)?
Do you know how fast your paper airplanes were flying? Using this Math and Physics class Paper Airplane Lab to guide you through the full activity. You will need an actual measure tape and a stopwatch for this experiment.
Dive into the fascinating world of owls and learn about their flight adaptations that allow them to hunt at night. Read the 2020 AAAS/Subaru Book Prize Winner, Owling, or find other books about birds from this collection of bird books.
Observe your favorite bird in action at a park, a zoo, or your backyard. Use the Birding from Home activity to guide you in identifying and watching similar birds in your neighborhood.
When it comes to solving complex problems in the real world, today’s top robot builders often draw on the natural world for inspiration: giving them millions of years of evolution to borrow from. Discover how engineers model different things after animals inside the book, Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls, a 2020 AAAS/Subaru Book Prize Finalist for Young Adults.