Joey Green's Mad Scientist

Paper Helicopter

What You Need

Sheet of 8-1/2-by-11-inch paper
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Two paper clips

What to Do
Fold one of the halves in half lengthwise.
From the base of the paper, measure 4 inches up the length of the folded sheet of paper and draw a line across the width of the paper. From the base of the paper, measure 6 inches up the length of the folded sheet of paper and draw a line across the width of the paper.
On the line drawn at 4 inches, measure 1 inch in from the open edge of the folded paper. Draw a diagonal line from this point to the point where the line drawn at 6 inches touches the open edge of the folded paper.

Fold the wings in opposite directions along the line drawn at 6 inches. Cut out the triangle, cutting through both layers of the paper.
Open the paper and cut the center fold from the top of the paper to the line drawn at 6 inches.
Fold the tabs at the bottom of the paper toward the center and attach two paper clips to the bottom.
Hold the helicopter above your head and drop it.

What Happens
The paper helicopter rotates like a helicopter, and the more paper clips you add, the faster the helicopter rotates.

Why It Works
As the helicopter falls, air rushes out from under the wings in all directions. The air hits the body of the craft, causing it to rotate around a central point. Adding more paper clips increases the weight and reduces the air resistance but increases the amount of air hitting the helicopter wings.

Bizarre Facts

Although Russian-born Igor Sikorsky is credited with inventing the first successful single-rotor helicopter in 1939, French inventor Paul Cornu built the first manned helicopter in 1907. The principle of the rotary wing was used some twenty-five hundred years ago by the Chinese for the flying top—a stick with propeller-like blades on top that was spun into the air as a children's toy.
More people are killed by donkeys every year than die in air crashes.
The hummingbird, the only bird capable of hovering in the air, beating its wings up to seventy times a second, provided the inspiration for the helicopter.
"Wet birds do not fly at night" was a code for the French Resistance during World War II.

Why Mona Lisa Smiles
In 1483, Leonardo da Vinci, inventor of the scissors, sketched a design for a helicopter.

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