Science and Technology K–6 · Years 1–2

Paper whirlybirds: the push of the air

Working Scientifically only (NSW 2017); Forces can change the way objects move (NSW 2024); Science understanding, Physical sciences (ACARA v9)

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Air pushes on a falling object; longer wings catch more air and make the fall slower.

Safety card

Low riskAn adult supervises

Hazards

Reaching overhead to release

Controls

The adult releases from the floor with no step or stool; learners stand clear of the drop point, and time and record from beside it

Note

No chemicals or heat. Record the activity on the school's risk assessment (Primary School RiskAssess, Ecosolve Australia, riskassess.com.au).

What you need

Paper whirlybird template (a strip 4 cm wide and 20 cm long cut down the middle for the wings, with the base folded and held by a paper clip) in three wing lengths: 4 cm, 8 cm, 12 cm
A 2.0 m drop point marked on the wall, with the adult releasing from the floor, hand at the mark, and no step or stool used; where the adult cannot reach the mark from the floor, the mark is lowered to the highest height they can reach from the floor and every drop uses that same height
A stopwatch or phone timer; a recording table of three drops per wing length

How to do it

Predict which wing length will take longest to fall and why.
Drop the 4 cm whirlybird from 2.0 m. Time from release to touching the floor. Three drops.
Repeat for 8 cm and 12 cm wings.
Circle the middle time for each and draw a bar for each length.
Drop a screwed-up ball of the same paper from 2.0 m and time it for comparison.
The adult drops the paper ball and the 12 cm whirlybird together from 2.0 m. Watch which lands first.

What you should see

Whirlybirds that spin fall more slowly than the paper ball, and longer wings, which catch more air, are expected to make the fall take longer. A 2.0 m fall with no air push would take 0.64 s (t = sqrt(2 h / g), g = 9.80 m/s^2), and a lower mark gives a shorter figure from the same formula; the paper ball lands close to that, and each spinning whirlybird takes clearly longer. A hand-held timer cannot confirm a fall as short as 0.64 s, because the person timing has to react at the start and at the stop, so the paper ball's times are rough and the side-by-side drop is the clear comparison. The whirlybird times are the class's measurement. The learner knows it worked when, dropped together, the paper ball lands first, and every whirlybird's middle time is clearly longer than the paper ball's.

What changes

What you change: wing length (4, 8, 12 cm)
What you measure: time to fall 2.0 m (s)
What you keep the same: same paper and paper clip
same drop height and release
still air (fans and windows closed)
three drops each

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

Heavier things always fall faster.
The whirlybird spins because of the paper clip.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), NESA. Current syllabus; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare, 2027 start teaching the 2024 syllabus. Code read from the official syllabus document on 2026-09-22.ST1-1WS-S
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), NESA. Implementation from 2027, so this code describes the future syllabus. Code read from the outcomes page on 2026-09-22.ST1-SCI-01 ST1-PQU-01 ST1-DAT-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9S1U03AC9S1I01AC9S1I02AC9S1I03AC9S1I04AC9S1I05AC9S1I06

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

All Concept Studio activities