January Science Saturday in Ocala was "Paper Helicopters", led by Dr. David Atkinson, a Senior Research Scientist at IHMC. Ninety students from Marion County elementary schools attended. They learned to design helicopters and test them in specially designed wind tubes.

Dave introduced the four forces affecting flight: the two sets of opposing forces include lift and gravity, and thrust and drag (not yet shown).

Paper templates for various sizes of helicopters were provided for the first activity.

Making a helicopter involved mostly cutting and folding.

Dave was enthusiastic about answering questions and helping as needed.

The first test was to drop the helicopters from overhead, in order to see how they fell.

The careful implementations spun gracefully to the ground.

Next, students tried their helicopters in the wind tubes.

The helicopter was inserted into the bottom of the tube...

When you let go, the wind created by the fan would propel the helicopter upwards --

But upward motion (flight) could only take place if the force of gravity was less than the lift provided by the wind.

Next, each student was asked to make one change to their design, for example by adding a paper clip as ballast or tape as extra support. The next trial would reveal if the change was an improvement or not.

This student added tape, and some extra folds.

This one was modified with the same materials, but with a different approach.

A lot of the helicopters went really high!

Wow! This one went really high!

The group discussed what kinds of designs worked well, and what design changes didn't work as well.

Students were called upon to share their designs and to explain their modifications.

This modification was a double whirly...

Some students had the opportunity to demonstrate their flight to the group.

The final activity was free-form design without templates, using new materials.

Pipe cleaners, styrofoam balls, and plastic baggies were provided.

The final step was flight trials. Was this contraption going to fly? There was only way to find out….

It flew HIGH! Thank you David, for an exhilarating lesson about forces and flight, and thank you to the volunteers for helping to make this morning a success. And last but not least: Thank you, season sponsors -- Lockheed Martin, Ron and Phyllis Ewers, and Oak Lane Farm.