Sizing+Up+Parachutes

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Title
Sizing Up Parachutes

Problem Scenario
I found the experiment on science buddies and decided to do it because it looked like fun and I was interested to know if a small or big parachute is better for falling from high heights

Broad Question
Does the size of a parachute help the speed

Specific Question I was interested
Does a bigger or smaller parachute help the speed of the descent

Hypothesis
The smaller parachute will fall faster.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
material,size,height dropped from,area,weight.

General Plan
I will be doing this experiment at school. I will be testing diffrent sizes of parachutes to see which one falls slowest. Ill try to find if a smaller or larger parachute falls slower. I will be making diffrent sized parachutes and droping them from the same hight. Using a stopwatch i will record the time between when i drop it and when it lands. I will then gather my information and determen if a big or small parachutes falls slower.

Potential Problems And Solutions
A potential problem would be not being able to get the materials.The solution would be to walk to the store or call a family member.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
none

Experimental Design
= Controlled, manipulated experiment =

Number Of Trials:
I will be doing this experiment twice.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
There will be 2 subjects in each trial.

Number of Observations:
I will be making 4 observations.

When data will be collected
2/11/13

Where will data be collected
At school in the courtyard.

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * stopwatch || 1 || walmart ||  ||
 * heavy garbage bag || 4 || walmart ||  ||
 * metric ruler || 1 || walmart ||  ||
 * washers || 9 || walmart ||  ||
 * twist ties || 1 pack || walmart ||  ||
 * light weight string || many || walmart ||  ||
 * scissors || 1 || walmart ||  ||

Detailed Procedure
1. Get the materials.2. Build the parachutes all different sizes.3. Drop the chutes from above the courtyard.4.See which parachute fell fastest and which one fell the slowest.5. Do the experiment once more to be safe and make sure the data is correct.6. Make poster.7. present.

Data Table

 * Size || Test1 || Test2 ||
 * 20cm || 2sec || 2sec ||
 * 40cm || 4sec || 4sec ||
 * 50cm || 5sec || 5sec ||

Results
My graph shows the drop time of the different sized parachutes all of them had fast drop times .The fastest drop time was for the 20cm parachute it fell for 2 seconds.The longest drop time was for the 50cm parachute and it fell for 5 seconds.

Conclusion
I have come to a conclusion that the smaller the parachute the faster it descends and the larger it is the slower it descends.This is becuase the larger it is the more air it can catch to slow itself.My hypothisis was that the smaller parachutes would fall faster.My hypothosis was correct the smaller ones fell faster.

Discussion
I am glad I did the experiment it was interesting to do.One pattern that I noticed in my data was that if you have a parachute of 10Cm for every 10Cm added it slows down by 1 extra second.The dependent variable is the time it depends alot on the independent variable size.The bigger the parachute is the longer it takes to reach the ground. I was able to successfully answer the question.If you take a small parachute and a large one and drop them.The small parachute will fall very fast and the large one will fall slower than the small one.This is because the large on catches more air and that air slows the parachute down.According to my data the larger the parachute the slower it falls. This experiment could be tested further by doing tests with different materials.You test to see which fabric is better for making parachutes.Or test which amount of weight slows the chute down by a decent amount.My experiment went smoothly there were barley any problems.The only problems I found were lack of materials and slow building process.

Benefit to Community and/or Science
The data which I have collected could help to improve parachutes.If someone was to fall fast enough and pulled their parachute late and were to close to the ground they would break their legs.Testing this could make a parachute that could slow you down enough to land safely.If you found the right material more people might feel safe skydiving and buy more parachutes making more money for those companys.

Abstract
When I started my experiment the first thing I did was build the chutes.I had to measure each bag to a certain size.After cutting the chutes out I took 4 pieces of each chute.I measured each piece to 40Cm then made holes in the four corners of the chutes.I took each piece and tied them to the bag and took the ends of each piece and tied them all together in the center. Then I had to tie the string to 4 washers on each.I ran into a problem of running out of washers. I fixed it by taking the washers off of the other parachutes and putting them on the others.I then picked a place to drop them.I picked the highest place I could find which was above the courtyard. I dropped each chute twice and timed them.After dropping them I wrote my results down on a piece of paper.I put my results in a googledoc and turned it into a graph.I took the graph and put it on my wiki.I finished a few things up and typed this.