| MadSci Network: Engineering |
I am assuming you are making that statement based on experience? There are a lot of good web sites out there on the subject of paper airplanes. I have listed them at the end. The first one listed is especially helpful. Based on experts far better than I, the larger the wingspan the larger the lift. The more lift and less drag, the longer the plane stays aloft against the force of gravity trying to pull it down. The wider wings generally have more surface area to develope lift, which is the difference between the air pressure under the wing and over the wing multiplied by the area of the wing. Paper is limited in strength, so a truly large wingspan glider is harder to build. Flying further also requires that you fly straight. This is a function of how well you've folded the plane, balanced it, corrected for curved flight by bending tabs on the wings, etc. Although a little too technical at times, the first web site below explains most of the above in better detail. http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1817/ Very detailed description of how a paper airplane works and why it is different from a real plane. Also has a question and answer forum that might answer your question better than I can. http://ldaps.ivv.nasa.gov/Curriculum/Curriculum/Wing-design.html Explanation of aspect ratio and an experiment on the wing shape effect on flying. http://www.yesmag.bc.ca/projects/flyer.html Gives some hints as to control of plane by flaps, etc http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/paper/airplane.html Build the "Best Paper Airplane in the World" http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/aerosim/LessonHS97/paperairplaneac.html NASA site which describes a paper airplane lesson and offers a FoilSim program to teach why the airfoil in a real airplane works the way it does.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Engineering.