Aviation

In part 3 of the Paper Airplane Project, each team member will build and fly test models of each of their chosen glider designs. The testing results will be submitted here for grading by the instructor, and reported to the team within your Canvas team work space. Before proceeding: Go to Paper Airplane Project – Orientation, Instructions, and Documents page located in the Course Specific Information area. Download project instructions and the Glider Testing Activity document, and carry out the specific instructions for Part 3 of the project. By the last day of Module 5, per the instructions for part 3 of the project, upload your completed testing worksheet here for scoring by the instructor, AND provide both the completed worksheet and a summary of your results to your team within the team’s group space. Background and Motivation Get ready for the fun part of the project! In building and testing your glider designs, you will again be applying the steps of the scientific method – formulating hypotheses, taking measurements, making observations, recording data, performing calculations, and formulating results and conclusions. Part of the testing will involve the calculation of wing loading for each of your test gliders. Back in Module 1, we learned about wing loading and its connection to aircraft mass, wing area, and speed. Refer back to Module 1 Mini-Lecture 3: From Research to Technology – Applying Science to Get Humans Airborne to review of the concept of wing loading. Here again is The Paper Airplane Guy, John Collins, talking about wing loading for paper gliders. After watching the video, hypothesize about the wing loading for each of your test designs, and how that should relate to the observed speed of each design. Here, you should also make the connection between wing loading and the forces of weight (or mass) and lift. Wing Loading (02:28)