Final answer:
To fairly test Yen's hypothesis about airplane tail weight affecting flight distance, Yen and Adia must perform a controlled experiment with identical airplanes, altering only the weight of the tail, and ensuring consistent launch conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
To test Yen's hypothesis that an airplane with a heavier tail will fly farther, Yen and Adia can conduct a controlled experiment following these steps:
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- Create a baseline by making several identical paper airplanes with no additional weight on the tail.
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- Choose a specific location where they will consistently launch the airplanes to ensure that the test is fair. This location should be free of wind and other environmental factors that could affect the results.
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- Decide on the exact method of launching (e.g., the same person throws each plane with the same force) to maintain consistency.
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- Mark the landing spots of these airplanes and record the distances they travel.
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- Add a small weight to the tail of each airplane in a standardized way. For instance, use paper clips or pieces of tape and ensure they all weigh the same.
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- Launch these weighted airplanes under the same conditions as in step 2 and 3.
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- Again, record the distances traveled by the airplanes.
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- Compare the distances flown by the unweighted airplanes to those with the weighted tails to see if there's a consistent difference.
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- Analyze the data to see whether the additional weight on the tail made the planes fly farther or not, thus confirming or refuting Yen's hypothesis.
This experiment will help determine the effect of tail weight on the flight distance of paper airplanes. It's essential to only change one variable at a time—in this case, the weight on the tail—while keeping all other factors the same. This ensures that the test is fair and that the results are due to the change in tail weight. If they want to be even more thorough, they can repeat the test multiple times and calculate averages for more accurate results.