Parachutes Investigation

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Parachutes Investigation

Aim

The aim of this investigation is to find out how one chosen variable

can affect the rate of descent of a parachute. There are many

different factors that can be taken into consideration and varied to

see what has the best effects on the rate of descent. The options

where:

a) The size of the canopy,

b) The weight pulling on the parachute,

c) The length of the chords,

d) The shape of the canopy

Also the forces acting on the parachute had to be taken into

consideration and appreciated for how they could be influenced or used

to aid the rate of descent.

The forces came in the form of air resistance and gravity.

Procedure

I chose to see what the effects of the weight the parachute had to

support would have on the rate of its descent. My original prediction

after some general thinking was that the heavier the parachute was,

the faster the parachute would descend. I believe this to be totally

true as it is a logical thought process; a feather falls slower than a

hammer indicating heavier objects fall quicker than lighter objects.

Also the aerodynamics matters, if a surface area of a side of a brick

is cut out on a piece of paper and dropped at the same time as the

brick the brick will hit the ground before the paper. This is because

heavier objects fall to the ground quicker than lighter ones.

The next question is why is this important? It matters because if

something is falling to fast or slow then other variables can be

changed to counter act this, e.g. the size of the canopy or the

aerodynamics of the weight. The object that needs to be controlled is

air resistance; this is made higher or lower by parts of the

parachute. The more air resistance created by the canopy then the

slower the parachute will fall. What also matters is how the weight is

distributed from the parachute.

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