Paper Airplane Experiment: Which Design Flies Farthest? (A Fair Test)

Everyone has folded a paper airplane. Far fewer people have tested one. A paper airplane experiment is a good way to teach fair testing, because the variable (the fold) is easy to change and the measurement (distance) is easy to take.

The question

“Which paper airplane design flies farther?” is a testable question. “What’s the best paper airplane?” is too vague, so start with a comparison of two specific designs.

What you need

Plain printer paper, the same kind for every plane
A long tape measure or metre stick
Masking tape for a throwing line
Small sticky notes or coins to mark landings
A pencil and a data table

Run a fair test

Pick two designs. A classic dart and a wide-winged glider work well.
Make a throwing line with tape. Every throw starts there.
Decide what stays the same. Same paper, same thrower, same strength of throw, same direction, same indoor space with no fan or draft.
Throw each plane three times, or five if you have time. Mark each landing and measure from the line to where the nose first touches down.
Record in a table, then find the average for each design: add the distances and divide by the number of throws.
Compare. If the averages are far apart and the throws of one design are all longer than the other’s, you can be confident. If they overlap, you can’t say yet. Throw more.

For a second round, keep the design the same and change one thing about the throw, such as angle. Only one thing changes at a time.

Common problems

Different throwers. A change in who throws can swamp a change in design. Use one thrower, or alternate.
A different throw each time. Practise a steady, medium throw first.
Measuring to different spots. Agree on whether you measure to the nose or the final stop, and stick with it.

The science of flight

Four forces act on any plane:

Gravity pulls it down.
Lift pushes it up. Wings deflect air downward, and the air pushes the wing up in return.
Thrust pushes it forward. For a paper plane, that’s your throw.
Drag pushes back against the motion, from air rubbing on the paper.

A dart has little drag but also little lift, so it flies fast and straight, but lands sooner if thrown gently. Wide wings give more lift, so the plane glides longer on a soft throw but loses speed to drag. Which is better depends on how you throw it, and that is a real engineering trade-off.

Our family lesson What makes a paper plane fly farthest? follows this method, first testing designs and then the throw. For classrooms, Can we design the best paper airplane? has teams fly each design five times and plot the class results on a graph, so students argue from data.

Ways to extend it

Add a paper clip to the nose and see how it changes things.
Fold flaps at the back and test steering.
Graph the results and explain which design you’d pick for a long throw and which for a short one.
Write a conclusion: My claim is… The evidence is… This happens because… See how to write claim, evidence and reasoning.

Where to go from here

Planes are one part of Build It, Launch It, a family unit with an egg drop and a balloon rocket as well. Teachers can find the measurement unit at Measure It. Sign up for three lessons free. The fair-test planner can help you set it up.