Grade 9 Science 2 Week Project – Develop & Plan

Improvements Made From the Tutorial:

This section connects the major wing to the body of the plane. In the tutorial, the man uses 1mm of balsa wood for the side walls. However, we do not have 1mm thick balsa wood available to us so we decided to change the wood to polyfoam instead. Polyfoam is also lighter than balsa wood which would reduce the weight of the plane, thus making the plane fly more efficiently without strain.

This is one of the most important sections of the plane as it connects the propeller to the rubber band motor. However, Jenny and I are lacking the skills needed to make the hook into the shape shown in the video. After some discussion, we realized we did not need to have the hook exactly the same as the video and that it just needed to fulfill the same purpose effectively. Therefore, we made the hook design much simpler as shown in my sketch.

Final Model:

Materials:

• 3mm thick and >34.8 cm long sheet of balsa wood
• Wood Glue
• Ruler that is longer than 30 cm
• pen/marker
• Wood cutter knife
• q-tip plastic stick
• lighter
• sandpaper
• sewing thread
• 1 plier
• 46 mm thick wire
• 2mm thick polyfoam
• clear tape
• 1 skewer
• 1 sewing pin
• 1 sheets of A4 paper
• 1 scissors
• 1 paper cup
• 1 protractor
• thin plastic sheet wrap
• 2 or 3 washers
• 6 rubber bands

Procedure(We translated the tutorial video we chose and tried our best to write down each step):

1. cut a diagonal strip of balsa wood that is 8 mm thick in the front, 5 mm thick in the end, and 34.8cm long. (We’ll call this the body of the plane)
2. cut a diagonal tip – 4mm wide
3. Cut a piece of balsa wood that is 1cm x 5mm long
4. connect the piece to the 8mm thick tip of the body with wood glue
5. measure 21.3 cm on the body
6. cut a balsa wood strip 5 x 5mm, and then cut the strip in half
7. stick one of the halves under the balsa wood stick where the 21.3 cm is marked
8. mark 9 cm on the body
9. mark 5.7 cm on the body
10. measure 4.3 from 5mm thick end
11. measure 2mm at the 5mm thick end
12. cut a small section at the end of the tail (2mm x 4.3mm) that is right side up
13. get q-tip stick cut stem to the length of the body
14. put the wire through cut q-tip stick
15. burn the ends of the stick and press flat
16. sand the q-tip
17. glue the q-tip stick onto the tip of the balsa wood stick flat end face out
18. wrap the thread around the tipto secure it
19. glue the thread & cut the excess
20. using pliers bend the wire that is connected to the q-tip into a hook shape (bend two times counter-clockwise, and once clockwise)
21. stick it into the front of the body
22. wrap with thread & glue to secure
23. cut polyfoam 38 cm lengthwise, 5.8cm width
24. mark the center
25. mark 8.9cm on both sides
26. mark 1cm away from center line
27. cut end into curved shape
28. sand the edges
29. press the shape into bigger foam, roll to make a curve
30. cut off the end flaps, lift 7mm
31. glue two pieces together at an angle
32. secure with tape
33. cut the center off at the 1cm marks
34. lift up 2cm
35. glue back together, at an angle
36. secure with tape
37. the ends would be 4.5 cm above the table
38. cut new polyfoam 18.45 x 4.25
39. mark midpoint
40. make curve at the ends same as the big wing
41. mark the top leading edge, and mark bottom tail edge for both wings
42. sand everything
43. cut a new 5.7 x 4.5cm
44. make a curved shape out of it
45. sand everything
46. cut diagonally 0.7 cm
47. cut a strip of balsa wood that is 5.7cm and 2.5-3mm thick
48. curved 2 strips cut from previous
49. glue it to the item we made at step 45 and make a shape that resembles a sandwich
50. attach to marked section from the start
51. get a skewer that is 5.5cm long
52. Pierce the sewing pin in the middle of it
53. wrap it with thread securely
54. add glue
55. cut a 6x2cm A4 paper strip
56. fold the A4 paper strip in half
57. cut a curve on the paper strip to make it look like a plane wing
58. get a paper cup
59. trace A4 paper onto cup at 16 degrees angle
60. get thin plastic, which must be rolled to the same diameter as the cup
61. trace the plastic on the cup and cut it out
62. sand
63. chop the skewer again on both sides
64. attach the propellers into the stabbed areas of the skewer
65. glue it
66. pinch until dry
67. remove pin from skewer
68. sand a piece of wire 0.6 mm thick at the end
69. bend wire into L shape, bend again make a hook
70. insert hook into q-tip
71. add 2 washers at the front
72. insert stick into propeller skewer
73. cut the wire leaving 1 cm at the front
74. bend the 1cm into the hook
75. glue the cut end of the long stick to small wings
76. glue fin above it
77. glue the sandwich to the big wing
78. glue fin wing to stick
79. braid rubber band
80. attach the rubber bands to the hooks
81. twist the propeller 500-600 times
82. hold the rubber band until release.
83. Your ready to fly your airplane!

Timeline:

Success Criteria:

1. Our rubber-powered plane flew outside for over 20 seconds and demonstrated stability and control in flight.
2. I have demonstrated teamwork and collaboration throughout the project. I showed respect to Jenny and supported my teammate in problem-solving and decision-making.
3. I have completed all our blog posts and assignments with high quality that meets Mr. Michie’s standards.