Science of Flight 2

Experiment 3

 Testing paper airplanes

What are we investigating?

1. Which type of paper folded plane could defy gravity for the longest?
2. What is the difference between the longest and the shortest?
3. How can we explain this difference?
4. How can we make sure the test is fair?

What did we do?

1. We built airplanes by folding half an A4 sheet
2. We timed how long they stayed in flight
3. We recorded the times, found an average and ranked the planes in order.

   

   

   

   

Science of Flight: Design Balsa Gliders

First attempt:

Using junior hack saws Balso wood, a glue gun and some sandpaper we set about designing a plane/ glider

Second Attempt

Taking on Board what we learned about air pressure and teh bernoulli effect we redesigned our planes hoping to  improve their flight times.

We weren’t really that successful! as timing them showed no real improvement.

How can we improve our designs in the future?

• By shortening the fuselage to make it lighter.
• By moving the wings forward so it is easier to throw.
• By only using thin wood to make the plane lighter.
• Moving the wings backwards to maybe make it more balanced.
• By changing the ratio of wingspan to fuselage to make the wings longer.
• By changing the angle of the dihedral to give it more lift.
• By adjusting the tail fins so we might be able to control the plane better.

3rd Attempt: Template gliders

Check out the results in our short video:

Science of Flight: Air Pressure/Bernoulli Effect

Experiment 4

Air Pressure

 What are we investigating?

What is Air Pressure?

How can we see it if it’s invisible?

What did we do?

We took a full milk carton, stuck the straw in and drank all the milk.

We then kept sucking until the sides of the carton began to collapse inwards.

What did we find out?

At the start the air pressure inside and outside the carton was equal.

When we sucked out the air from inside the carton the air pressure outside was greater and so it pushed in the sides of the carton.

Even though we couldn’t see it we knew it was there!

Experiment 5

Aerofoils

What are we investigating?

How can we use air pressure to counteract gravity?

How does the design of an airfoil create lift?

What did we do?

We took a strip of paper and held it flat with one end drooping down.

Using our  breath we had to try to create lift on the drooping end.

tiff infomation

tiff infomation

What did we find out?

If we blow under the tip of the wing we can make it lift.

If we blow across the top of it we can make it lift also.

This is because of the Bernoulli Principle, which is that when the air moves faster across top of the wing the air pressure decreases and so the pressure underneath becomes greater causing the wing to be pushed up giving lift.

Mission V in the RDS

Sixth class went to the RDS primary science fair and displayed  our coke investigation and Mission V. We built a virtual RDS  on mission v . We made a prediction room to display our graphs. We also made an investigation room where we took pictures of the objects and put them on the wall. In the next room we  have our  results.on different coloured tables. In our conclusions room we recorded which soft drink was the best cleaner.In our further investigation room we have made life like replicas of how we plan to improve our investigation in the future.At the RDS many people were impressed by our work on mission v and our coke investigation. We won a beautiful trophy and the judge was very impressed by our hard work. We visited many stands at the RDS and were amazed by some of the projects from all over the country. It was a great experience and we would definitely go again.

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Sixth Class Primary Science Fair

On  the  11  of  January  2014  we went  to  the  RDS  Primary Science Fair.It  was  an  honour  to  be  invited  to  exhibit  our  science  project  at  this prestigious  venue. Only three percent of the primary school in Ireland were selected to exhibit their projects at  the  RDS . At  the  end  of  the  day  the adjudicators  gave  us  a  plaque  and  a  certificate. The  adjudicators wrote  on the  certificate  that we were a well  mannered  and  knowledgeable class  and  that  our  presentation  and  layout were both excellent. They  were also  impressed  by  our  virtual  RDS  that  we  created  on  mission V. It  was  a  great  achievement  for  sixth  class  and  everyone  really  enjoyed  their  day  at  the  RDS   Primary  Science  Fair.

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