The purpose of this
experiment was to determine how an airplane propeller’s angle of pitch affected
thrust.
I became interested in this idea when I found out that flying an airplane costs a lot of money and if the propeller was producing maximum thrust then flying a plane wouldn’t cost as much.
The information gained from this experiment could help pilots and the people who travel because they could get to their destination more quickly and less expensively.
My first hypothesis was
that the 45º pitch would provide the most thrust.
My second hypothesis was that the very low pitch (5º) would provide very little thrust.
My third hypothesis was that the very high pitch (80º) would provide very little thrust also.
I based my hypothesis on an article in the World Book Encyclopedia that said, “Each section of the propeller blades meet the air at the angle that results in the most efficient generation of thrust.”
EXPERIMENT DESIGN
- The constants in this study were:
- The airplane model
- How long the blades are
- The thickness of the blades
- The place the experiment is
conducted
- How many blades on each propeller
(4 blades)
- The material(s) used to make the
blades
- The material(s) used to make the
airplane
The manipulated variable was the pitch angle of the propeller.
The responding variable was the speed of the model airplane.
To measure the responding variable I used a stopwatch to time the number of
seconds the plane took to travel a fixed distance.
MATERIALS
QUANTITY
|
ITEM DESCRIPTION
|
1
|
stopwatch
|
1
|
model airplane
|
75-100
|
legos
|
5
|
tinker toys
|
1
|
meter stick
|
PROCEDURES
1. Make the model airplane
fuselage from Legos.
2. Make the propeller using Tinker Toys.
3. Put the wooden blades on the propeller hub.
4. Mark a line for the starting line.
5. Then measure 177.5 cm and mark a line for the finish line.
6. Using a protractor card, set all the blades at the angle that is needed for the current test: 5º, 15º, 25º, 35º, 45º, 55º, 65º, 75º, 85º
7. Put the propeller to be tested on to the model airplane.
8. Put the airplane at the starting line.
9. Turn on the airplane motor.
10. Release the airplane and at the same time have someone start the timer.
11. When the airplane gets to the finish line pause the stopwatch.
12. Record the data on the table.
13. Repeat steps 8-12, 7 more times with the same angle.
14. Then repeat steps 6-13 with the next angle.
15. Then repeat steps 6-13 with all remaining angles.
16. Average the results for each angle.
The original purpose of
this experiment was to determine how an airplane propeller’s angle of pitch
affected thrust.
The results of the experiment were that the 15º angle went faster than any other angle. The 45º angle took more amount of time, than the 15º angle, to get to the finish line. I didn’t get up to the 85º angle because at the 55º angle it took too long to reach the finish line.
My first hypothesis was
that the 45º pitch would provide the most thrust.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected because the 45º angle didn’t provide the most thrust, it provided very little thrust.
My second hypothesis was
that the very low pitch (5º) would provide very little thrust.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected because the 5º angle provided the second most thrust.
My third hypothesis was that the very high pitch (85º) would provide very little thrust also.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because the 85º angle did provide little thrust.
Because of the results of this experiment I wonder if a 10º angle would provide more thrust than the 5º angle, but less than the 15º angle.
If I were to conduct this project again I would do more trials than eight. I would put the airplane in the exact same spot when I started every time. I would try not to make a little push at the start so the airplane won’t go faster. I will make sure that the blades are at the right angle and that they are pushed in all the way.
Researched
by -- Jalene A
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