Visualise the Flight Path of a Paper Cup Glider With Light Trail

This fun and simple project shows how to make a paper cup glider that lights up while flying, creating a beautiful light trail when photographed with long exposure. Perfect for kids and beginners interested in physics, aerodynamics, and photography effects using everyday materials. Look at the two videos at the end to see the gliders in action.

1. 2 paper or plastic cups
2. Tape
3. Rubber band
4. LED(s)
5. Coin cell battery
6. Camera capable of long exposure

Tape the two paper cups together so that their bottoms face each other. Make sure they form a solid structure by taping securely around the joint where the rims meet.

Place the LED inside one of the cups along with the coin cell battery to power it on. Position the LED so it stays stable and lights up brightly when the circuit is complete. The positive terminal of the battery is connected to the anode (long leg) of the LED, and the negative terminal is connected to the cathode (short leg) of the LED. Use standard electronic symbols for the battery and LED.

Take a rubber band and stretch it around one of the cups. Roll it carefully to create loops for launching. This rubber band will provide the propulsion for the glider. If you have small rubber bands like I do you can connect multiple bands to create a long band which you can use to launch.

Start by looping the rubber band at the base where two cups meet. Pull back the rubber band loops to release and launch the paper cup glider into flight. Watch the video at the end of the page for clarity.

Using a camera on long exposure mode, take a photo of the flying glider. The long exposure captures the path traveled by the glider as a glowing light trail, visualizing its flight pattern beautifully.

How to launch the glider