This series of designs investigated different ways to fold wings of different shapes. Wing shape, weight distribution, and wing loading were the parameters varied, with the hypothesis being that the weight distribution of the basic origami model was necessary for rotation.
The results supported the hypothesis. Taking the models from left to right:
- the wing with all weight at one end fell without rotating
- the wing with most weight distributed on the wing fell without rotating
- this wing was a surprise! the wing was a rectangle with a heavy head and heavy leading edge in about a 2:1 ratio, with the rest of the weight in the wing. It rotated beautifully, just as predicted by the hypothesis!
- a variation on the basic model with a larger wing rotated best of all
- the same variation with lighter foil also rotated well but fell more slowly and with a deeper "cone" of rotation.This suggests that there is a relationship between the weight of the seed, the speed of rotation, and the angle at which it rotates.
The last two seed models suggest another experiment to determine the relationships between weight, speed of rotation, and the angle of the "cone" that the seed makes as it falls. I didn't do this experiment, but I would really like to know what happens. Maybe you could make a videotape of falling models and measure the model's behaviors?
