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Armaan Israni
Ms.Cohen
CP Physics
10/20/15

Paper Plane Experiment


The problem was simple, Boeing had issued engineers a challenge. That challenge was to
design an airplane that was lighter, faster, and better performing than the outgoing Boeing 787
dreamliner. There was some constraints that really did make the job a lot harder. The constraints
were that in designing the plane the maximum amounts of sheets that could be used was 2 sheets
of copy paper (letter size) and a paperclip. A scissor was allowed to make incisions in the paper.
The design of the plane is fascinating, the way that the wright brothers designed the plane
was very different. No one had seen anything like it. The original flight was 121 feet, since then
planes have come a long way. Comet planes are among the interesting kind because those planes
did not have your typical plane engine with a giant turbine. This plane had the engines buried in
the wings giving more pressure to the fuselage of the plane. Ultimately that design had many
flaws which in return, caused breakdowns through multiple flights. The plane was taken out of
service for extensive testing. After one year of flights the metal in the plane started to get weak
which was a big problem. 3 generations of the plane came out after the original generation that
were better and safer, the comet is now retired.
My partner and I had brainstormed many different types of possibilities. We thought of
using the classic design but producing it with more defined edges that would make the plane
more bold. Taking the classic design and making it longer, heavier in the front and lighter in the
back. Cut the paper in half, more light agile. Make a really small design that is light and easy to
throw. Try the classic design just double. Many prototypes were created. The classic design
redesign was a plane that was the standard paper airplane but longer in the back that would give
more air flow in a direct path. The second design was the classic design squared, also known as
the Falcon Mk.II. It had two standard planes one on top of the other, it was kind of like a space
shuttle one would detach from the other and the one remaining would fly even farther because of
the detachment of the two planes. The third prototype was very bad at gliding but good for

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stunts, basically it was bad at flying. The best solution was indeed the Falcon Mk.II because of
its intricate design. The airflow was better than I have ever seen on a paper airplane. It had a
Star Wars space shuttle type design. When the plane(s) would detach the one remaining flying
would get a boost when it would detach because of the weight reduction. This plane also had
50/50 weight distribution because of the paperclip on the back of the plane.
The build we chose was the Falcon Mk.II because it worked completely fine in wind
conditions of below 3 mph. Outdoors where it was mucky, wet, and windy it traveled 15 feet.
The problem was that when the plane would land the front end would would get bent and ruined
the aerodynamics which in return rendered the plane useless. We had to rebuild it inside and
when it was rebuilt, it preformed amazing traveling 40 feet indoors. The space shuttle idea interms of detachment needs a better design because some flights the plane did not detach at all,
which would affect the distance in a bad way.
What the Falcon Mk.II can improve on is the weight distribution, maybe more weight on
the right side by attaching the paperclip on the right side of the wing. Some mechanism that
would improve the detachment of the plane(s) and assure that every flight the plane(s) would
detach.

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