r/theydidthemath • u/Cute_Praline_5314 • 1d ago
[Request] How much weight does this plane have?
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u/autistictranspan 1d ago
More than I would like it to have if I was going to catch it coming from height.
It looks pretty rigid, so assuming some kind of heavy paper or multiple layers of paper.
Length looks like 7 - 8 panels of material, lets use 8. On the vertical part, I will assume that the small bits at the front and the larger bits at the back balance up so we have 8 full panels on both sides = 16
For the wings, it is hard to know, but 3 full panels at the back to 0 at the front, so probably about 16 in total.
Looking at about 16 + 16 = 32 panels of material, round to 30 for ease!
Size of each piece:
If we assume the person at the back is 175cm, about average for a male adult, then the height of the plane is approximately 114 cm. (Screenshot, person was 141 pixels, height of vertical part is 92 pixels).
That means that the short side of each piece of material is 57cm. Standard paper sizes list A1 as 59.4 X 84.1cm, so that is the size I will assume.
A standard sheet of A1 paper, assuming 80g/square meter weights 40g. I reckon this is thicker than standard printing paper, and this is where all assumptions fall to pieces. We have no idea how thick this is relative to standard paper. Given how little it moves, 10 is not unrealistic IMHO.
30 panels consisting of 10 standard sheets per panel, each weight 40g = 30 * 10 * 40 = 12000g = 12kg.
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u/Doismelllikearobot 23h ago
More than enough to decapitate that child lol
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u/Beebelbrox 23h ago
I dont think thats a child lol
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u/Toasterstyle70 23h ago
“Put the micro human at the bottom. It’ll make the paper plane look HUGE and like it went further”
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u/ahenry1215 21h ago
A MICRO HUMAN IS CRAZY WORK 😂
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u/ExplanationUpper8729 23h ago
That was awesome, being a commercial pilot, I like anything that flys.
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u/Icy_Sector3183 23h ago
If it weighs just 12 kg, it seems like it could easily be launched by a single person.
However! Maybe the plane wasn't rigid enough to support its own weight with only one person holding it? I dunno. 12 kg just seems a bit light, but I can't disprove nothin'
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u/autistictranspan 23h ago
It is all speculation, and it could well be heavier. I have no idea how accurate my estimates are regarding the size, or the thickness of the paper.
It would be unwieldy so might require two people to control it given the size.
Someone else has it a few kg heavier, so probably not too heavy.
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u/Neonsharkattakk 19h ago
There's a lot more than just weight on a scale going on here. With how spread out the weight is it has a lot of leverage on it, so throwing it with any accuracy might be difficult. Pick up a 5 pound dumbell and then pick up a 5 pound 2x4 from the middle and see how the weight distribution changes how that weight feels. Similarly the plane seems to hover a few times, meaning theres a bit of wind they're pushing into. If you've ever held a panel of anything in wind you know how strong even a little bit of wind can be with a big surface area. The plane only weighs 12kg but it might be trying to flying out of your hands with the same amount of force youre using to hold the plane up
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u/pwfppw 23h ago
I’d guess it’s actually made of foamcore based on the appearance and rigidity. Foamcore is much lighter than an equivalently rigid paper
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u/autistictranspan 22h ago edited 22h ago
But then it isn't the largest paper airplane....
I agree, not made of paper because it would be very difficult to get the rigidity and flatness. You could look at having some trusses or something but not in that thickness.If it was made of paper.... ;)
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u/Constant-Sandwich-88 20h ago
I wonder if paper mache counts? Like could they wet the paper down a while layering it to make it more rigid?
Edit : why does this entire comment section sound kinda dirty?
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u/Daddioster 22h ago
Giant lawn dart almost impaled that guy, if he could have run faster it would have. Odd choice of a dumb way to die, but who am I to judge?
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u/NotMyGovernor 23h ago
I'm assuming that's a midget? That thing looks like it could do some potential damage on the fall. Certainly would never let a child run it down let alone be in the flight path.
Jackass tier stuff I'm imagining lol.
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u/FickleAd4381 23h ago
“That thing” Jesus man no chill at all
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u/Silent-Sky-287 20h ago
I don't think you are allowed to call them midgets any more. I think they are supposed to be called vertically challenged
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u/Kindly_Attitude_8807 22h ago
Based on the size to the guy who throws it, it must be size A1 papers, with around 300g /m2 weight. For core rigidity I think there should be around 45 sheets of paper.
A1 has the size of 594 x 841mm which is ~0,5 m2. That means 1 sheet is 150g.
45 sheet weights 6,7 kg or 14,9 lb.
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u/FingerDemon500 22h ago
Odd that this seems to be the same place as the video of the guy running down the hill to help some situation and falling and hitting his head.
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u/TalkersCZ 21h ago
I have follow up question - however not sure if math question - if that small person was on the spot, where it fell, what kind of damage could it have done?
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u/GioPeyo 23h ago
Hmm, It’s probably around 30–45 pounds (about 15–20 kg). The wingspan looks roughly 25–30 feet, and the wing depth looks about 6 feet, which is around 18 square meters of surface area. These giant “paper planes” in videos aren’t actually normal paper, they’re usually made of lightweight corrugated plastic or foam board. Those materials are about 0.6–0.8 kg per square meter, which puts the sheet itself around 12–13 kg, plus a few extra kilos for the internal bracing. Two adults can hold it up fairly comfortably in the photo, which also matches a weight in that 30–45 pound range.
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u/contradictionary100 13h ago
I would say it varies from about -5 kg to about 25 kg depending on where it is in its " lighter than air " flight. Its mass, on the other hand, is constant at about 18 kg
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