What is the science behind paper airplanes | What makes a paper plane fly?

When you think of a fine morning, the day is amazing to start with a cup of coffee, a bite of biscuit, and looking at a soaring airplane with the blue sky in the backdrop. Sometimes it reminds me of my childhood where I wondered about how airplanes fly without flapping their wings? What makes a paper plane fly in the air with such ease and breeze like a boss.  “They fly with their wings and their engines”, said my dad. As a kid, I often think I should make my airplane and fly to the countries for days and months. Later I found that’s the science behind paper airplanes which makes scientists to scratch their heads during those ages.  

Difference between airplanes and paper airplanes:

You might think, what kind of question is this?  An airplane and paper airplane are a lot more different when it comes to their size, functionality, operations, and material, etc, etc.,  But the major difference is paper airplanes are lighter than air aircraft meanwhile airplanes are heavier than air.  The common assumption between people is how an airplane that is heavier and bigger can fly in the air?  The aircraft is heavier than air and it weighs so much more than tonnes of kilograms.

The science behind paper airplanes:

The key here is the design and surface area of paper airplanes. This makes it easier for them to stay afloat in the air at a certain speed while moving forward.  As you can see a fighter plane approaches the air better than a commercial aircraft. This is caused because of its wing design, purpose, and engine performance. 

Similarly, the purpose of paper airplanes is to fly using the paper’s material property effectively.  The design of any paper airplane plays a vital role in its performance. They decide whether the paper plane is a glider or dart or a stunt one.  

Changing the design of paper airplanes causes a major difference –  for example a small dent or fold in a symmetrical plane can lead to disturbing its course of direction, sometimes stopping them even from flying.

Forces acting on a paper airplane:

Paper airplanes feel no difference in experiencing forces when you compare it with regular aircraft.  Basically Forces are something that happens to attract or repulse physical objects.  

Gravity:

For example, gravity is nothing but when you crush and throw a paper upside down it happens to fall to the ground. Its because of the gravity force. Gravity attracts earthly matters towards them regardless of their mass.

Thrust:

Throw a paper airplane is into the air, your hand movement is converted into a force. This force is attached to the paper plane body and moves forward i.e THRUST.  Thrust acts as the forward force attached with an aircraft, our regular airplanes get thrust from their engines.  Whereas the paper airplane gains it from forwarding throw.  

Lift:

Lift force is a mandatory force and a must force for a flying object.  When a paper airplane is thrown into the air. The design and structure allow it to raise its altitude which is called Lift force. To explain more about the science behind paper airplanes in here. It is happening because of its wing structure.  Among all other forces, the lift force plays a major role. To be exact without lift force aircrafts are just hover boats.  

Drag:

Have you ever felt some force pushing you back whenever you drive your motorbike?  We usually say it is air but it isn’t!  It is the drag force that is created when you are trying to disturb the air medium.  For an aircraft’s performance, drag is the common enemy but without drag, an aircraft is useless in our atmosphere.  It’s like batman without joker, tom without jerry – there is no flight if there is no flight.  

Paper airplane equilibrium | Paperplane balancing:

Achieve a cruise flight occurs when all these four forces like thrust, lift, drag, and gravity are well balanced.  Kids will have the ability to throw a paper airplane but sometimes some designs need a heavy hand to throw it properly.  It means long-distance planes are usually thrown at a very high speed to reach more distance.  The world record for the longest distance paper airplane is thrown by a football player and designed by john m collins. But paper airplanes don’t have much association with drag and lift forces because they are very minimal but, they are mostly dependent on the thrust force gained from the throw. 

If you want your paper airplane to stay afloat in the air for a longer time you need to have your airplane’s wings wider but you will require minimal thrust to launch them basically.  Meanwhile, if you want your design to reach a larger distance within a shorter time you specifically design it with narrow wings and launch it with high force.

What makes a paper airplane fly the farthest?

The design could be a very important aspect of paper aircraft flight.  To achieve a greater flight one needs to understand the various factors that will affect the airplane’s performance like distance and speed.  The paper airplane legend takuo toda made the aircraft which maintained the longest flying airtime of 29.2 seconds in Fukuyama city, Hiroshima, Japan on 19th December 2010. 

Like we have already spoken the second one is made by Collins and thrown by footballer Joe Ayoob which has reached 69.14 meters and made it into a world record on February 26, 2012. This means both of these people have cracked the technique of making a design that has done something which was never done before.  

I will list down two planes from the dart & Glider categories for you to try out and experience the change in performances.

I. Nakamura Dart

II. Easy paper model airplanes

These two above models are easy to make and simple to understand.  Fly them in your garden and understand their reaction to the air medium.  

Why is origami talent so important for making a paper airplane?

Japanese are known for their delicious noodles, bleeding-edge technology, and origami designs.  Origami is the art of folding paper to bring a concept to a lifelike figure.  It could be an animal, bird, or even some mystical creature but it can give life anything that is thought through. The same applies to paper airplane construction, where we have the world’s biggest origamists who have made wonderful designs and given them to our society. Generally, people call it “aerogami“.  Because it is an origami craft deals the environment with aerodynamic ability.  

If you really be interested in making paper airplanes all you need is a piece of paper and passion to find happiness anywhere. 

Evolution of paper airplanes:

If you try to trace back the history of paper airplanes you will barely find any clue because their origination is as per assumptions near to the invention of papers.  Some argue that the greatest Italian polymath Leonardo Davinci had drafted the first paper airplane design. Whereas many histories say that paper lanterns and kites were in custom for hundreds of years before his lifetime.

But historians definitely knew that it is not only a toy but a serious tool to understand the secret science behind paper airplanes flight.  Many engineers and scientists have used and still using paper airplanes as a tool to resolve many modern aerodynamics-related problems.  

Paper airplane in space:

To blow your mind with a fact National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent a paper airplane to space to honor its contribution in finding aviation solutions. Paper airplanes just travel the space in a straight line unless it is disturbed by an extraterrestrial being or a UFO.  

Another interesting fact is wright brothers have used paper airplanes to test out their theories about airplanes. So we all should be thankful to paper planes for giving us the cheapest airplane rides for everyone.

So with paper airplanes, there are no conclusions but 100% sweet beginnings to new inventions and solutions to future generations. Wish you a good day from Liftndrift.