Paper Airplane? Why is this the case ?

Question

i did an experiment on paper airplane on which one will fly further the longer or the shorter one. it turns out the longer on flew further. any idea y?

Answer 1

if its the most commonly styled paper airplne, it would be because of the larger surface of the wing allowing for more lift to be generated; while not significantly increasing the drag coefficient.

Answer 2

The wing-area to weight ratio is one of the largest determinants of overall performance, but I think stability and balance is the main key here. Your design with the longer profile was probably more stable and better balanced than the smaller one. This was probably more due to chance than anything unless you were working from a proven design to begin with. One other thing, the glider with more mass (up to a point) will have more momentum and will generally fly further given an identical design and an similar throw. Therefore, if you make a plane out of a whole sheet of paper, it will usually fly further than one of the same design made out of a half-sheet, particularly if it has any air currents to contend with.

Answer 3

because paper is so light, it doesn't matter how much there is aslong as it'snot bigger than A4, so therefore there is more wingspan, so ergo more lift, more distance =]