In Grade 9 Science & Engineering’s Engineering Project, we were tasked with designing and creating a device that involves energy transfer. After deciding on my product and its purpose, I started planning.

My plan

Some main features of this plan include:

The “Launch Capsule”

I planned for my airplane launcher to have a part made for carrying the airplane as well as transfer momentum to it when the plane is launched, which I called the “launch capsule”. While this would increase friction and reduce how fast the airplane is launched, there needs to be some sort of buffer between the paper airplane and the rubber band. Paper is fragile, after all. I planned for my launch capsule to be made out of cardboard as opposed to wood to reduce weight, so that the device can shoot paper airplanes faster.

The Trigger & Handle

I planned for a trigger mechanism that is triggered by pulling, along with a handle which will make holding the device much easier. I designed this with an extra piece of wood jutting out to make sure that the finger doesn’t slide off of the trigger. One thing I missed in the plan is the axle I will use to hold the trigger in place while allowing it to rotate.

The Aim Assist

After doing some calculations, I decided to add a notch at the end of the device to assist with aim so that paper airplanes can be launched in an optimal way. Due to the design of the launch capsule, this design will launch the airplane downwards if held parallel to the ground. Adding a notch with a 11.25ยบ offset would make it easier to aim, since now all the user needs to to is make sure that the notch is parallel to the ground when firing.