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NESA Accredited Teacher
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High school chemistry & physics specialist 30+ years
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The Crazy Scientist in primary schools — 15 years
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International conference presenter on science education
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Creator of the LAB™ Learning System
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Curriculum aligned: NSW Science & Technology K–6 (2024)
A picture is worth a thousand words — check this out and see if you can spot the science hiding in plain sight.
From the LAB
What you will need
• 2 sheets of A4 paper per person (or paper plane kit sheets)
• Tape measure or measuring tape
• Masking tape (for the launch line)
• Pencil and recording sheet
• 1–2 paper clips (optional, for further investigation)
• Flat, open floor space at least 5 metres long
How to do it
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Set Up Your Launch Line
Stick a piece of masking tape on the floor as your launch line.
Mark it clearly — every flight must start from behind this line.
Measure 1 metre from the line and mark it too, so short flights are easy to measure.
4
Make Plane B
Make Plane B (the glider): fold in half lengthways, fold just the top corners slightly inward, then fold wings down flat and wide. If using a kit, use the two different designs provided.
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Test plane A
The same person throws Plane A three times using the same throwing motion — same arm, same angle, same effort.
Measure from the launch line to where the nose lands each time. Record all three distances.
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Calculate your averages
Add up the three distances for Plane A and divide by three.
Do the same for Plane B.
Which average is higher? Was your prediction right?
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Get your planes
This experiment works with any paper plane kit. If using a kit, use two different included designs as Plane A and Plane B. If no kit, students fold a dart (Plane A) and a glider (Plane B) from A4 paper using the instructions in the steps below.
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Make Plane A
Make Plane A (the dart): fold the paper in half lengthways, fold both top corners to meet the centre line, fold the resulting triangular edges to the centre again, then fold each wing down — narrow, pointed nose.
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Make your prediction
Before you throw a single plane — write down which design you think will travel further and why.
Does a narrow wing or a wide wing win against air resistance?
Commit to your prediction before you find out.
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Test plane B
Same thrower, same throwing motion, three launches. Measure and record each distance.
The fair test depends on keeping everything identical except the plane design.
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Investigating further
Try clipping a paper clip onto the nose of the plane that lost.
Does the extra nose weight change the result?
Now try bending the wing tips of Plane B slightly upward. Launch again. Record what changes.
Did it work? Share the science! Tag @the_crazy_scientist on Instagram — we love seeing your experiments!
Wing Thing
Designed by Darin Carr (BSc, DipEd)
NESA Accredited Teacher Chemistry & Physics Specialist
Creator of the LAB™ Learning System
Fold two paper planes with different wing profiles, fly them under the same conditions, and find out which design cuts through air resistance better — then keep changing variables until you understand why.
5-12 yrs
Easy
10
min
Stage 1-3
>
Wing Thing
The Crazy Scientist LAB Learning System™
Every experiment follows The Crazy Scientist Lab Learning System™ — a simple way to help kids think like real scientists.
We
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LINK to what they already know,
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ACTIVATE curiosity through hands-on discovery
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BUILD understanding that actually sticks.
Have you ever stuck your hand out of a moving car window? What happened when you held your hand flat — palm facing down — like a wing?
What about when you turned your palm to face forward, straight into the wind? That invisible pushing force has a name, and it acts on every object moving through air.
Today you're going to find out exactly how the shape of a wing decides how much of it your plane has to fight through.
• Hold your two planes side by side before you fly them. Look at the wing shape of each. Without testing yet — which one do you predict will fly further?
• After your first flight, what did you notice about how each plane moved through the air? Did one slow down faster than the other?
• Did one tumble or wobble? Did the other seem to hold a straight line?
• What was different about the wing shape of each plane? How much surface area did each wing have?
• If more surface area means more air pushing back, how did that show up in your results?
• Why do you think some planes glide further even though they move more slowly?
• What would happen if you added a paper clip to the nose of each plane — would more weight at the front help or hurt the flight?
• Real fighter jets have swept-back narrow wings. Commercial passenger planes have wide, straight wings. Why might they need different shapes for different jobs?
"Want the full teacher guide? The Crazy Scientist Lab includes classroom delivery tips, how to manage the WOW moment, differentiation for Stage 2 & 3, — ready to teach tomorrow."
Think Like a Scientist
Scientists don't just do ONE experiment; they change one part of the experiment (independent variable) and then see how it affects another part of the experiment
(dependent variable)
Change ONE variable and test again.
Wing profile — narrow dart vs. wide glider (which shape creates more drag and does more drag always mean less distance?)
Nose weight — no paper clip vs. one clip vs. two clips (how does shifting the centre of mass affect flight path stability?)
🧪 Try it! Change ONE thing and test again. What did you discover?
Want to go deeper? Tap a section below to explore. ▼
The Science Behind It
What's really happening?
Every paper plane is fighting the same invisible force: drag. Drag is the push that air gives back to anything moving through it. The bigger the surface hitting the air head-on, the harder it pushes back.
A narrow dart is shaped like a knife cutting through — less surface facing forward, less drag, more speed. A wide-winged glider has a bigger surface hitting the air, so it slows down faster. But the wider wing also creates more lift — the upward push that keeps the plane in the air.
A glider trades speed for time. Flying slowly but staying up longer can actually cover more distance than flying fast but dropping quickly. Your results showed which trade-off worked best in the space you were using.
Why wing shape changes everything?
Air moves faster over the top of a wing than underneath it. Faster-moving air pushes less hard — so there's less pressure on top than on the bottom. That difference in pressure pushes the wing upward. That upward push is called lift.
A wider wing moves more air over its surface and creates more lift — but also more drag. A narrow wing creates less lift but cuts through the air faster. The Wright Brothers figured this out by testing over 200 different wing shapes in a home-built wind tunnel in 1901 — exactly the kind of systematic testing you did today with your two planes.
Why does the paper clip change flight?
Adding a paper clip to the nose shifts the weight of the plane forward. A plane flies straight and steady when the weight is slightly further forward than the centre of lift. Too far back — the nose tips up, the plane stalls and tumbles. Too far forward — the nose dives.
A small nose weight often fixes a wobbly glider by finding that sweet spot — stopping the wobble that wastes energy and sends the plane off course.
Real-world connection
Aircraft engineers spend years finding the right wing for each job. Fighter jets need to go extremely fast — narrow, swept-back wings keep drag low at high speed.
Passenger planes need to stay in the air for hours — wider wings for steady, efficient lift. An albatross has long, narrow wings shaped specifically for gliding over the ocean for hours with almost no effort. Every wing shape is an answer to a specific question about speed, height, and purpose.
Try next
See how stored energy and launch force combine with wing design → [Launch Lab]
Investigate how changing mass and balance point affects glide distance → [The Ghost Glider]
Extension: G&T Years 5 & 6
What is air resistance?
Air is made of tiny particles — molecules — that are always moving. When an object moves through air, it has to push those molecules out of the way. The molecules push back. That pushing-back force is called air resistance, or drag. The faster an object moves, the more molecules it hits per second — so drag increases with speed.
The wider the front surface of an object, the more molecules it hits at once — so drag also increases with surface area. Your paper planes experienced both of these effects at the same time.
When you hold your hand out of a car window with your palm flat — parallel to the ground — there is very little drag. Rotate your hand 90 degrees so your palm faces forward into the wind — drag increases dramatically. What changed? How does this connect to the difference between your dart and your glider?
What is lift?
Lift is the upward force that acts on a wing. It happens because of the difference in air pressure above and below the wing. When air flows over a curved wing surface, it has to travel a longer path than air flowing underneath — so it speeds up. Faster-moving air creates lower pressure (this is known as Bernoulli's principle).
The higher-pressure air below pushes the wing upward. The shape of the wing — how curved it is, how wide it is, and the angle at which it meets the air — all affect how much lift is generated.
A real aircraft wing is curved on top and flat on the bottom. Your paper dart is flat on both sides — but it still generates some lift when thrown. What do you think creates the lift in a flat paper dart? Think about the angle the wing is at when it travels through the air.
Vocabulary
Drag
The force that air pushes back against a moving object. Also called air resistance. Larger surface area and higher speed both increase drag.
Lift
The upward force is created when air moves faster over the top of a wing than under it, producing lower pressure above the wing.
Air resistance
Another name for drag is the resistance an object experiences as it moves through air.
Surface area
The total area of an object's outer surface. A wide wing has more surface area facing the air than a narrow wing.
Centre of mass
The point in an object where its weight is balanced in all directions. Adding a nose weight shifts the centre of mass forward.
Know a parent or teacher who'd love this? Send it on! 👇
The Crazy Scientist books
These highly visual books combine storytelling and real science, helping students revisit key concepts and stay engaged long after the session.
Designed by a practising NSW classroom teacher (30+ years experience), these books directly support NSW Science & Technology (2024) outcomes and reinforce “Working Scientifically” skills.
Perfect for classroom libraries or home explorations.
For teachers (YouTube)
— Science Before the Bell
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