Upscaled paper idea = One hell of a ride!

Ok I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out.

I was really bored at work one day and i was just tossing a piece of paper around. if a piece of paper is just flat and not crumpled, and you hold it flat in the air and drop it, watch what happens...it just floats back and forth till he lands on the ground. Generally a smooth landing.

Now try this. Put an ant on that piece of paper...now it might not stay on if not strapped down haha but for sure the ants size and weight does not effect a sheet of paper of this size compared to it. it should still fall the same kinda way as if the ant were not on it.

Now think...what if we upscaled this idea to lets say...the ant now becomes a human being...and maybe the same scaled demensions upward from the paper but now maybe a large flat piece of sheet metal. Theoritically if you strapped the human to the middle of this and drop it from hundreds and hundreds of feet up...do you think it would have the same effect as if it was an ant of a piece of paper.

It seems like this should work... and maybe if the human could have a rope to corners so he could pull up so it would kinda be like the magic carpet effect and be able to angle to wind resistance haha....this is all just a theory but i would love to see what you all have to think about the idea. No doubt about it that would be one hell of a ride.

keith youre a dork.

























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Yeah, I think it would work. And so does my buddy the dinosaur. Reminds me of a reoccuring dream I have where I tie two corners of a bed sheet around my waist and hold the other two corners in my outstretched arms, and a big wind comes and lifts me up in the air. Problem is I am over 200 lbs so it would never work. But I bet a little dude about 110 or so could really get airborne!!!

Originally posted by groingrinder
But I bet a little dude about 110 or so could really get airborne!!!

Strap me in, I'll be your test pilot.
Haha, I'm sure this would be a crazy site to see if you got it to work. The only question left is why?

... "Could really get airbone". Sure, for a few seconds after being pushed off a cliff, and just before impact.

MM, you've just stumbled across two things:

1. What early glider / aircraft enthusiasts were guessing at with lift. Large, flat surfaces tended to keep aircraft aloft. hmm. might be something there. (Hence, perhaps, groingrinder's post). and perhaps the larger, the better. There are so many details, however, that it took quite a while to develop this concept further... eventually developing into the wings we see now.

2. Unstable controll surfaces. Ok, the piece of paper in your thought experiment has few controll surfaces, but if the ropes were controlled properly by a computer, and the control surfaces were sufficient... yes, a scaled up piece of paper could fly. Happily, people riding scaled up "pieces of paper", when properly designed and shaped, posess enough computing power to controll the craft in real time. These are called hang gliders.

But with vastly improved wing design, and control surface mechanics, as well as the movment of those surfaces... well, those large flat surfaces can be great wings. Unstable, or not. Like the X-29 or the B-2. So, sure MM, pieces of paper floating and falling in the air are great models for wing design... and it takes *lots* of work to spell out the details.

Not trying to discourage original thought, here, MM, just trying to encourage further effort towards aerospace design efforts. continue with this idea, and after 4 or 5 years of calculus and physics, you might surprise us all!

HAhahAHHAha TSM thanks for the incouragement haha... and yes i know about the hang gider and stuff...what im saying ith this idea is...its so simple...and would be a blast of a ride never knowing where this air resistance is going to take you haha...it would be insane...but if anyone out there knows...has there been any scientific study on how long and wide and light a flat piece of sheet metal has to be in order for a human being to ride it to a safe landing from the air....for instance say a plane is going down...pieces f it our blown apart...could you grab a piece of the metal and ride it so saftey if you came in a enough of a flat angle?....i doubt that cause the piece of metal wouldnt be big enough...so how big would it have to be...and would it be impossible because to land saftey and that shallow of an angle you would have to be traveling speeds that could kill a natural human being? haha who knows this info out there? i know one of you do.

they had something like that on the Show myth busters not all that long ago but intead of sheet metal they used ply wood and hooked a modified dummy up to it that weighed like 180 lbs didnt turn out to good

Originally posted by zakattack
they had something like that on the Show myth busters not all that long ago but intead of sheet metal they used ply wood and hooked a modified dummy up to it that weighed like 180 lbs didnt turn out to good

I remember seeing that.. Although I wouldn't volunteer for either, I say MaidenMayhem's idea is alot more feasible than what they did on mythbusters. On this oversized paper contraption there is steering devices, consideration for keeping a center of balance and having a proper weight ratio. In other words I can see his idea happening and working because it is alot better designed than the mythbuster's thing. Ha, either way i'd still rather watch than be the tester.

But sheet metal and plywood isnt the same as a scaled piece of paper. Now if it was a huge piece of paper and not sheet metal maybe but i still doubt it. I mean sheet metal you would drop like a rock.

I bete one of those guys that try to fly of the end of piers thought of that idea and they let him drown!!

Originally posted by zakattack
they had something like that on the Show myth busters not all that long ago but intead of sheet metal they used ply wood and hooked a modified dummy up to it that weighed like 180 lbs didnt turn out to good

I'm suprised they didn't go cheaper and used bolsa wood instead.

I don't like Mythbusters for the sole reason that when they test these experiments, they settle for less than what the actual experiment requires, basically instead of taking years of development and millions of dollars in research, they try debunking an experiment with a 5 dollar kit in 1 hour.

Now, no wonder all of their shows are "busted". Because they aren't doing it right! Basically, these are two hippy mechanics who pretend to be rocket scientists and physisists.

I just have a big problem with Myth Busters, I never liked their show, just didn't fit for me. But this concept would probably work better on a thin light large piece of paper in porportion to the person operating the piece of paper.(One big piece of paper).

Shattered OUT...