Balsa Glider
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
A glider is a type of aircraft that has fixed wings and flies on the concept that the winds glide against the fixed wins. It does not depend on an engine for flight. The only times that some of them require engine power is during taking off. They are used for sports such as paragliding, hang gliding, among others. It was discovered in the 19th century and was based on the ideas of Sir George Cayley’s ideas. The ides were ten developed by the wright brothers in 1911. To mimic this principle, there are balsa gliders that are used mainly for fun. This paper is an analysis of the construction of a plane examining the materials, tests for the machine, and flight tests. This paper wil be divided into segments that have similar content.
Material
The materials that were used to construct the glider were common and easy to get c0onsideri n that it was a balsa glider. Several materials were needed. They are listed below.
- Knife or Razor Blade
- Sand Paper
- Wood Glues
- Ruler
- Pencils
- Plywood
- Rubber Bands
- Aluminum Wire
- Balsa Slices
- Redwood
- Weights such as coins or washers
The material mentioned above is required either as part of the glider or in joining the different parts to make it.
Construction
Take the balsa pieces and cut them so that they are 3/32x 3 x 31″ and 1/16 x 4 x 31″. TaKe the bigger pieces of balsa and place it on the smaller piece so that they are parallel t each other. Leave a gap of 1.5” at the bottom of the pieces—Glue the bigger balsa piece on the smaller one. Shape the wings of the balsA piece so that they appear as they are in the glider. We followed the Bernoulli’s principle to shape the wings so that they create a lift. The shape was formed such that the upper part was curved, and the bottom part was curved such that the pressure fro the bottom is high enough to push the plane up. We then cut off the rough edges around the wings and then smoothed the edges. We then wet the trailing edge so that it was possible to curve it down into a proper curve.
Winglets were then added by cutting quarter-circles from the balsa tape. They were supposed to be the same radius as the wingtips and glue them on the tips to complete the wings. The next part was the dihedral of the plane. We balanced the wing on a ruler to find the center of gravity. A thin line was then cut along the side so that the dihedral fits. The glue was used to make the parts stick together. The amount was made and attached to the wings from wood. Finally, we made a tail out of curved body pieces so that it resembles that of a real glider plane.
The pats were then joined using super glue and aluminum foil on the wings. Weights were then attached to the front of the glider, and the set up was complete.
Description of Prototype
The wing dimensions are 30.5 inches on each end. The winglets are about one inch on both wings diameter. The tail dimensions are 3 inches high and in the radius from each side tail wing.
Flight Test Method
To confirm that the apparatus was fully functional, the best way to measure the waste distance that flew when flung in the air. Based on the glider we made, we thrust it ten times in the air and measured the distance traveled from the position of launch. We then divided the sum f throws by ten to find an average.
Results
The glider flew an average of 8.36 meters from the position of launch. It was a success since it flew with an initial upward trajectory meaning that it followed the Bernoulli effect.
Discussion
The process was very helpful, especially in boosting a person’s crafting skills. It was also a good way to exercise the physics that had been taught in class, such as the Bernoulli principle. It was also possible for one to know how well they had done in the exercise by flying the glider and measuring the distance. The experience was also fun since it involved teamwork. Different people were assigned different roles to play in the exercise so that a final result could be found.
Most of the participants also interacted positively since they all played their roles properly. The skils of improvisation were also flexed since most of the material we used was improvised from locally available materials.