The Helicopter Experiment

Introduction/Background:
The Helicopter Experiment! The goal is to find out how increasing the paper helicopters
weight with paper clips will affect how the helicopter falls. The helicopter has blades that
produce air-resistance when falling down. If there are paperclips attached to the helicopter, the
helicopter will fall down with more speed.
According to researches, gravity is an invisible force that pulls objects towards the center
of Earth. Gravity is the main reason why everyone and everything sticks to Earth. When an
object is falling, gravity is pulling the object causing the object to build more speed. A
movement that reduces the gravity is air-resistance. Air-resistance is air building friction causing
things to slow down as they fall towards the ground. On Earth, there is atmosphere which is why
there is air- resistance. On the moon, there is no atmosphere which is why there is no air-
resistance. That means if there were two objects falling at the same time on the moon; the
objects would land at the same time.
Research Question:
How will increasing the helicopters weigh (mass) by adding paperclip affect how the
helicopter falls?
Hypothesis:
If more paperclips are added, then the helicopter will drop faster because the increased
weight will make the helicopter spin in a way that reduces air-resistance.
Materials:
Paper Helicopter Template
3 paper clips
1 Scissor
1 Stopwatch
Chair
Pencil
Chart that describes the speed of the helicopter
Calculator (to find the average)


Procedure:
1. Take the paper helicopter template. With the scissor cut along the dotted lines.
2. Fold the part labeled A behind the part labeled B
3. Fold part C behind part B
4. Fold part D up behind part B
5. Complete your helicopter by folding blade X down in one direction and blade Y down in
the opposite direction. It should look like the helicopter (right)


Observation/Data:
Trial Time for 0 paper
clips (seconds)
Time for 1 paper
clip (seconds)
Time for 2 paper
clips (seconds)
Time for 3 paper
clips (seconds)
1 2.01 1.38 0.75 0.57
2 2.84 1.40 0.75 0.53
3 2.38 1.27 0.71 0.55
4 2.36 1.11 0.64 0.56
5 2.36 1.27 0.63 0.50
Average
Time
(in seconds)

1.918

1.286

0.69

0.542

Data Analysis
Judging on the results, the average time the helicopter lands on the floor decreased as
more paper clips were added. The pattern was that as more paperclips were added onto the
helicopter, the speed of the helicopter feel fast.
The data supported the hypothesis. The hypothesis states that if there are more paperclips
on the helicopter, the helicopter would drop faster because it has more force and less air-
resistance. In the results, as more paperclips were added, the average time decreased. That
means the speed of the helicopter increased.
Conclusion
This experiment was to test how increasing an objects weight will affect the speed of the
object when dropped. A discovery made was that when falling, if there is more weight/mass on
the object, there is less air-resistance but more force/speed. Therefore the data supported the
hypothesis.
One Independent Variable that could have affected the experiment was the positioning
and the increasing of the paperclips. The Dependent Variable would be that the paperclips were
positioned in another way; it could have affected the speed of the helicopter. Also, another D.V.
would be if there are more paperclips added the speed would also change. A Constant Variable
would be that the height of the chair (where the helicopter was dropped) could have affected the
results. The reason is because if the chair is short, the helicopter would have a quicker time on
landing to the ground. Meaning, the time of the helicopter would shorten than experiments that
included a higher chair. A new research question based on what was discovered would be how
to make an object land at a different time when it is dropped at the same time with another object
when the atmosphere is alike to the moon.