4. Discussion

4. Discussion

4.1 Key findings & Analysis of results

Most of the gliders did not fly very far

4.2 Explanation of key findings  

There has been a trend where wing designs with winglets have better performance as demonstrated by the constant chord and swept wings with winglets attached. The constant chord with winglets was observed to have flown an extra 0.15m.

The swept wing with winglets was observed to have flown an extra 0.11m.
The compound delta had a slightly smaller wing area than the Delta wing but flew less than half the distance.
We can infer that wing area is key for a wing design and a small loss or gain is detrimental to the aircraft's
performance.

4.3 Evaluation of Hypothesis

As part of the hypothesis, we expected the delta wing to fly the least distance, however, it is
observed that the delta wing has flown the furthest, further, inspection shows that the wing
area of the Delta is larger than the rest of the wing designs. The delta wing may have flown
further due to increased area, allowing it to stay in the air for a lesser period of time and
experiencing greater lift.

4.4 Limitations and Areas for improvement

All gliders are supposed to be symmetrically the same and made of the same material.
However, due to human error, we are unable to make all the gliders exactly the same.