Paper Airplane

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deleted-288567
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Project Question: Paper airplanes affected by paper clips
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Paper Airplane

Post by deleted-288567 »

Why do paper airplanes fly farther with paper clips?
deleted-280627
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Project Question: Creating a camera mount and system that would use Passive infrared sensors/servo motor at certain angles to track the motion of a person.
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Re: Paper Airplane

Post by deleted-280627 »

uhhhhhh bcuz they are lighter with the paper clips.
rmarz
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Re: Paper Airplane

Post by rmarz »

swish786 - Likely because they add more mass to the paper plane, causing it it to have greater lateral range due to inertia, before gravity and limited lift allow it to hit the ground.

Rick Marz
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Re: Paper Airplane

Post by deleted-249560 »

swish786- It's about the center of gravity. If you balance the plane with the center of gravity in the spot that effectively is where the lift is, the plan will fly more stably. Without the clips it's unlikely the center of gravity is in the right place. Clips in the front usually help some but that's not usualy the *best* place for them.

Here's a nice explanation:

https://howthingsfly.si.edu/sites/all/t ... b2p9i7.pdf
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