1.

0 The background of project

Do you know that that gravity is a force? In this activity students explore how some
things fall and how varying the size of the rotor blades, the shape of the rotor blades and the
weight of a paper helicopter affect the way a helicopter spins.

Students should know how things fall (i.e. the weight of the object is not a factor –
Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa) would help understanding of this activity, but not
essential.

The shape of the helicopter rotor blades make it spin when dropped from a height.
Gravity pulls the helicopter down. The air resists the movement and pushes up each rotor
separately, causing the helicopter to spin.

2.0 Objectives of project

Students will be able to:-

 construct their own rotor blades and explain how it works.

 investigate how the length of rotor blades or number of paper clips.
 interpret the raw data in experiment to graph .

3.1 Design of activities and materials

3.1.1 Materials

 paper
 paper clips
 ruler
 scissors
3.1.2 Procedures

1. Draw the design for your helicopter on the paper.

2. Fold your paper in half lengthwise
3. Cut a little less than halfway down the crease that you folded down the length of
your paper
4. Make two small cuts in toward the centre line halfway down the length of the
paper
5. Fold both of the bottom sections.

3.1.3 Cost of project

Material Cost Quantity Total

Paper Rm10 254 Rm10
Paper clips Rm10 254 Rm10
Scissors RM10 4 RM10
Ruler RM10 4 RM10
Rm40

4.0 Questionnaire

Based on their observation, students will required to answer the questions below:-

 The students could draw annotated diagrams showing how their different
helicopters fell. They could be given other helicopters and asked to predict how
they would fall.
 Concept-mapping could be used as means of the teacher building up an
understanding of how and what the students understand about ‘forces’.
 The students draw a various graph.
5.0 References

https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/34163/paper-helicopters-
science#&gid=undefined&pid=1

https://kiarasampoerna.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/stemprojecttheleaningtowerofpisa.pdf

https://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/roto-copter.html