0:03
You probably tried to make a paper airplane at some point in your life. And if you're anything like me, it probably flew about three and a half feet and went straight into the ground
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Well, what if you could try again, but, you know, as an adult
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Even better, what if you had the decades of knowledge of a diverse team of experts
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My name is Andrew Foote, and I am president of Paper Outlet here in New York City
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I am the paper expert. My name's Life, and I am the aerodynamics expert
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I am professor of mathematics at NYU, and I study fluid dynamics, mathematics, and physics
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My name is Frank Lee. I'm the paper folding expert. I work for TARS Origami Studio in Brooklyn, and I've been doing origami for 22 years
0:44
We're putting our team of bona fide specialists up against three awesome kids
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My name is Jonah Fisher. I'm 10 years old, and when I grow up, I want to be a filmmaker
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My name is Micah. I am 7, and I want to be an astronaut
0:58
My name is Nairobi. I'm 10 years old, and I want to be an archaeologist
1:03
We'll see who can build the best paper airplane. But more than that, we'll learn about the surprisingly wide breadth of expertise that goes into making a seemingly simple piece of folded paper
1:14
This is Kids vs. Science. I've been studying the aerodynamics of paper airplanes recently in order to figure out exactly what makes a paper airplane glide stably
1:24
My first thought when I heard about making paper airplanes was, you know, something I've done many times before
1:30
Pretty solid standard origami bit to have, so I'm excited for this
1:35
My understanding would be more green direction and how it would fold and what stocks would be too heavy
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So I'm trying to apply what I know about that to what would make a good paper airplane
1:46
Do you think you'll be the leader of the team? Yes. Okay. Part of me wants to say it will crush the kids, but I've worked with a lot of kids over the years
1:53
and some of the stuff they come up with is quite amazing
1:57
As adults, we're less creative. We're less open-minded. It could go either way
2:01
Final thoughts? No, just give me some paper. Each team will be given one hour to plan create and test their perfect paper airplanes They will then be judged on distance hang time and accuracy May the best team win
2:19
I sort of think of this as the base state, just literally a plane made out of paper
2:26
A plane, a flat tank. And then what do we have to do to make it fly
2:32
I hope I am doing this right, though I know for a fact that I'm not
2:37
Why is it like that? What happens to a plain piece of paper
2:42
Is it, if you drop it in the air, is maybe an interesting thing to compare to a paper airplane
2:49
Yeah. I give it a little helping start. Yeah. That guy. Yeah, that's awesome
2:54
I mean, this is a beautiful motion, but it's not what you want from an airplane
2:58
Right? No. That type of thing. We're going to use YouTube. Whoa, that's going to be helpful
3:05
It's a lot about balance, right? The most basic thing we all do, right, is we add a little weight in front
3:10
That basic fold there in the front is adding a little bit of weight that's keeping it? That's the way I was viewing it
3:14
Something that stabilizes it, right? It keeps it, the nose pointed down as it travels through the air
3:19
If it goes up, it's going to catch that wind. By folding it over in front here and not here, you're having a double layer or even more here
3:27
So your balance point still is forward on this thing, right? Yeah
3:31
We call that the center of mass or center of gravity. I mean you can't just like cut a triangle out of paper and have it work right
3:37
No, the folds are what it's the you get a triangle shape but that what you're getting is these folds that are waiting in
3:43
I got you. So this is what I've gotten so far and not done yet
3:47
Wait, why is it bad? It's computer. Okay guys, we're not done yet but I'm really close
3:51
That's where the center of gravity has to be. Oh, okay. And if you're like too far in front or too far behind you don't get a good flight
3:58
What about your beautiful flyer? Where is the balance point? Right about there
4:02
It's a little more than one third. Fold it. Fold it over
4:06
Then fold it in half. What do you recommend? Whatever stock you want
4:11
I like the colored stuff. I know that's not aerodynamically important, but I like the colored stuff
4:15
Pick a color. We got goldenrod, blue, orchid, pink. Yeah, we were spying on the other team
4:20
but Joseph I hearing you You have all these layers on top of each other The surface are just spread out a little bit up there So that what you have to worry about and that just the only way to combat it is you always going to have a little bit of it
4:32
But as you fold everything over, make sure that you tuck in as best you can
4:38
I saw that their airplanes were really tiny. So the weight wouldn't be too much
4:45
I know. I'm in fifth grade. You're folding all of them over on each other, they'll start to fan out
4:53
You can see it here. Yeah, mine were failures. I wouldn't call it failure
4:57
It's just the way paper behaves. It's a material that has thickness to it
5:02
It's going to behave not in the way, it's not like working like a perfect, like a flat plane or something
5:06
Yeah, but if you use less paper, then they will have to cut down less trees, which was
5:12
already made. A origami, we call this a book fold, is just edge to edge so we bring the long edges together
5:18
Use both your hands, really make sure it's lined up first. And then we call it a kite fold is when you're basically folding at a 45 degree angle off of this angle bisector
5:27
It's never gonna exactly line up. All your folds, if you're getting like 95% there, you're gonna be fine
5:35
Just throw that out, please. If this is folded and unfolded too many times, things just gonna flop open. Yeah
5:41
fibers become weaker and weaker and weaker. Yeah, you're breaking fibers with your finger. You're cracking them
5:46
There's a certain point, you know, you're not going to get the plane that you want
5:50
Three, two, one. My god! I think we're all set. Let's go
5:58
Disappoint some kids. The experts decided to all use one design
6:08
for their individual airplanes. while the kids each made their own different plane
6:13
for distance, hang time, and accuracy. I'm going first, okay, I'm going first
6:21
And I can bend over this, right, a little bit? Uh huh. Oh
6:32
Oh, John, come on. Oh! Whoa! I can interfere Okay ready Ready
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Ready? Three, two, one! One! Michael
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Yes, Michael. Good job. Everything's going to count
7:16
Three, two, one, go. Alright. Here we go. Three, two, one, go! Wow! Wow
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They won. Hold on. We won. We won. Yeah! Congratulations. Good game
7:33
Hold on. Congratulations. Congrats. Congrats. Congratulations. Good game. I kept walking in the room going under the table and smiling
7:43
I saw that. I saw that. Did you see it all the time? Yeah
7:47
Every single time. Our best strategy we used was YouTube. Oh. Oh. Mm-hmm
7:53
Folding tips? Well, isn't origami all about patience? Well, yeah, that's part of it, right
7:58
It's really taking your time. Don't rush whatever you're doing. Whenever you're working with paper, always take your time
8:03
This is my advice. Have someone guarding the door at all times
8:07
Actually, I think you have the right instinct here. This is a good, basic 70 pounds
8:13
But it's 70 pounds? All of the first folds, I'm making sure everything's
8:16
lined up first. I'm holding it down. So what's the next step? Good job
8:20
Make sure you crease it all the way out, especially or a tub. Micah? You ready? Yeah
8:52
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