※ Little Weather Angels -- Wind Paper Plane
Team Pika members are first or second year junior high students. They are not familiar with weather knowledge. Advisory teacher Jia-Wen is the earth science teacher of senior high department. She is also an expert on weather, so we consult her about it.
Pika teammates work hard on their paper planes
In the beginning teacher gives each one of us a piece of paper and asks us to fold a paper plane which can fly the farthest. To win the prize, we all work very hard on it. Some fold it like a triangle, some a pentagon, every paper plane has its own unique characteristic. After we finish folding, we are at the podium for the competition. Five of us as a group, and teacher yells the starting signal ”1,2, 3, fly!” and planes fly towards all directions. Some of them drop at the starting point, some fly to the back of the classroom, and some take a turn dropping to the ground. Afterwards, a champion is announced, winning the big prize. We are very envious. Miss Jie-Wen teaches us some tips: structure of the paper plane is the biggest factor on its flying distance. Of course, throwing pose is also very essential.
Team Pika and their paper planes ready to compete
And then Miss Jia-Wen teaches us to transform our plane into a wind paper plane. It is quite simple:find the balance point of the plane and stick through it with a pen, you will have your wind paper plane.
Pika teammates turn their paper planes into wind paper planes
After we complete our wind paper planes, she shows us how to test them. Before the test, she asks us, “Is the pointed end or the tail end face the wind?” We all have different answers, so Miss Jia-Wen leads us out of the classroom to somewhere with winds. After testing, we discover that pointed end should face the wind. Wind paper plane is basically an asymmetrical shaped object. Its central of gravity is fixed on the vertical axis. When wind blows by, the one end shows bigger air resistance would rotate with the wind, indicating its direction.
Take wind paper plane to test outdoors
After this class we learn that wind direction is the direction the wind is blowing from. We also learn how to make a wind vane and other knowledge about wind! They are all very useful. We are thankful for our teacher spending time to give us a lesson about weather. We once again gain a lot of new information!
Pika teammates and their own paper planes
Writings:Team Pika
Pictures:Team Pika
Pictures:Team Pika