Just tried to print out the design using Outlook 2007, and Internet Explorer
9 for the cited URL on my HP 932C printer in color. I got the bottom half
of the design (with red and black lines) but not the top red triangle. On
the top half the black words printed and the black dashed line labeled "5"
also printed out, but none of the red lines.
Is this my printer or something else?
Don
Dr. Donald Polvani
AACC Community College
Arnold, MD 21012
-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of John Denker
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:18 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: [Phys-l] hands-on aerodynamics
Hi --
Since there has been some interest in aerodynamics....
There are good paper airplanes and not-so-good paper airplanes.
Experimenting with good ones can teach a lot about physics in
general and aerodynamics in particular.
This is not supposed to be the be-all-and-end-all greatest
design, but rather a tradeoff between simplicity and good
performance.
Note that some of the folds are tight 180-degree folds,
while others are quite open, closer to 90 degrees, giving
the overall aircraft something of a "W" shape. Also note
a bit of clever origami technology: fold #5 creates a
pocket that /captures/ the points that were folded onto
location "O" by step #4.
You can trim the flight characteristics by putting very
slight bends in the trailing edge.
After you've made one or two of these, you won't need the
instructions anymore. In some locales, every 2nd-grader
knows how to make such a thing from a blank sheet of paper,
freehand. In other locales, not so much.
I am aware that most printers cannot bleed all the way to
the edge of the paper. There is nothing /important/ within
1/2 inch of any edge in the instructions.
Note that these things have been known to "escape" from the
physics classroom into other classrooms where they might not
be entirely welcome. Students should be reminded that this
is not a particularly brilliant or original idea.
============
Things get interesting when you take this design as a
starting point for exploratory experimentation.
-- Optimize it for slowest airspeed
-- Optimize it for best lift-to-drag ratio
-- Optimize it to fly upside down
-- Have a contest for maximum distance after flying over
one barrier and /under/ another. This requires both good
design and good technique.(*)
-- et cetera
(*) Note that without the barrier, the winning design would
be a wadded-up piece of paper. This is an artifact that
arises because there is effectively unlimited initial energy.
You want to set up the contest rules to reward some semblance
of energy efficiency.
==========================================
As a separate exercise, get an ordinary low-cost balsa-wood
glider from the store, and re-arrange the parts to create a
/canard/-type aircraft, i.e. with the main wing in the rear.
Of course we want nice, steady, stable flight.
This task is either very easy or very hard, depending on
whether or not you understand the physics.