Imaginations soar at library's science program

On Jan. 23, students at the Riverdale Library learned how to fly their own planes — the paper kind, that is. 

“Since the beginning of time, man has been trying to fly like birds, right?” library manager Rebecca Brown-Barbier, who runs the site’s After School Science program, told the group of aspiring pilots attending last Friday’s program. 

This past week’s program focused on the physics of flight. After defining flight terminologies like lift, drag and thrust, Ms. Brown-Barbier asked students about a fourth property: gravity. 

“I just want you to jump in the air and stay there,” she said to the students. 

Despite their best efforts, none of the children were able to suspend themselves aboveground.

“What’s pulling you down?” she asked. 

“Gravity!” they shouted. 

“And gravity will pull your airplane down,” she explained. 

With physics in mind, students took to a craft table to engineer their own paper planes. 

Camryn Fella, a student at the Robert J. Christen School (P.S. 81), said she and her brother were late to school because they were practicing their plane folding techniques before class. 

 “I think it’s going to be awesome. I like that everybody gets to make their own plane,” said Camryn, 7.

After folding her own plane, she admired the aircraft. 

“I’ve never really made a plane that looks like this,” she said. “I like the way it came out.” 

On the other side of the room, P.S. 81 student Darius Ringling, 10, tried out his new creation by sending it flying across the room. 

“They’re fast, and they make good tricks,” he said of the particular fold he used to make his plane. 

“It’s cool — it’s speedy,” he added, dodging another participant’s airplane as it whizzed past his head. 

Over at the crafting table, fifth grade P.S. 81 students Gabriel Brown and Matteo Cereola, both 10, were still hard at work on their planes. 

“The normal way is that you’re supposed to fold the top down all the way, but this time, I folded it less, which makes it better and more aerodynamic,” Matteo explained.