A silly question of inertial mass, density, and possibly something I don't know the name for

Factual Questions
1

If I take a sheet of paper and throw it as hard as I can, it will probably still land within arm’s reach. But if I ball that sheet of paper up as tightly as I can and throw it, I can throw it both much farther and with greater accuracy.

What quality exactly did I change about the paper to suddenly give it the capability to be propelled so far?

And is this the same quality that is changed about a piece of paper that is folded into a paper airplane?

Knead
Just threw away some paper and got curious

2

Air Resistance.

3

Is that really it?

That’s disappointing.

4

The paper airplane might, if done right, have some lift to it. But it’s mostly just air resistance.

5

And the property of the paper that you changed is the sectional density: Basically, the amount of mass divided by the cross-sectional area.

6

That is such a more satisfying answer. :slight_smile: