Science Fair Project Ideas - Quick and Easy Project Number 1 - Parachutes - Part 2 [sciencetechnology-center.blogspot.com]
The Experiment
This is part 2 of the science fair project ideas article "Science fair project ideas - Quick and easy project #1 - Parachutes - Part 1."
After you have all the materials you will need, you are ready to start. Here is a list of the steps you will take to do your project.
1. You will make each parachute out of the garbage bags. First you want to cut the garbage bags to make a flat sheet of plastic. 2. You will be making several parachutes, each of a different size. You will make the parachutes square shape to make all four sides the same length. In this there are 4 sizes listed for you to make your parachutes by.
Parachute # Length of each side (cm) Surface area (cu. cm) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 20 400
2 30 900
3 40 1600
4 50 2500
3. Using the garbage bags you made into flat sheets of plastic, cut out one of each of the four different sizes listed in the chart above. 4. Tie a knot in each of the four corners of each of your squares. These knots will be your anchor for the string. 5. Cut your string in 40 cm lengths. You will need four pieces of string for each of your parachutes. 6. Tie the end of one piece of string around each one of the knots on all four of your parachutes. Make sure the string is right above the knot. 7. Hold your parachute in the center of the plastic in one hand, and pull all four strings with the other hand to gather them together. Tie the free end of all four pieces of string together with an overhand knot. 8. With the twist ties, attach four washers to the bundle of strings on all four of your parachutes. Make sure all four of your parachutes ha ve an equal number of washers or the results of your experiment will not be correct. 9. Choose a good spot to make your tests. Some of the places you might look for would be a secure balcony, a deck on a jungle gym in the park, or a platform that is in a safe place. Your parents or teacher may have a suggestion for you. 10. After you have found a good spot, grab your stopwatch and your parachutes. Drop your parachutes one at a time from your platform and use the stopwatch to see how many seconds it takes for it to reach the ground. If the parachute does not open on the first try, just do that test again. Test each parachute three times and calculate the average for each parachute. To do this you take the three test results of one parachute and add all of those times together and then divide by 3. That will be the average for that parachute. It is a good idea to make a table similar to the one shown below for all your data. Remember, all good science fair project idea s and topics will have carefully recorded data.
Parachute # Trial 1 (sec) Trial 2 (sec) Trial 3 (sec) Average time (sec) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
2
3
4
11. You may want to male a graph of your data. To do this you will make a line graph of surface area of the parachute vs. time it took to land on the ground. Start by making a scale of the surface area using square cm on the left side of the graph, which will be y-axis and a time scale in seconds at the bottom of your graph which will be x-axis. Place a dot where your data intersects and then connect the dots. You may find your line will slope up or down. What does this information tell you? What conclusions can you draw from this?
There are several variations you can make to this experiment. The results with the variations will not necessarily be the same as the results you received from the variation you used.
Load - you can change the number of washers, which will change the weight of the load. Height - You can drop the parachutes from a higher distance from the ground String length - You can make the strings on the parachutes shorter or longer. String Weight - Try using a thinner or thicker string Material - Try something other than plastic Shape - Make the parachutes round, triangle, etc instead of square.
Most of all have fun with your experiment. I'm hoping you found this one of my science fair ideas was interesting. If you want more science fair project ideas, check out my other articles, or better yet, visit the web site below for a free copy of "Easy Steps to Award-Winning Science Fair Projects." Good luck!
Find More Science Fair Project Ideas - Quick and Easy Project Number 1 - Parachutes - Part 2 TopicsQuestion by : What is a good eighth grade science project that my little brother can do? My little bro is in advanced science this year so he is forced to do a project. I want to give him some good ideas and help him along the way. Oh and it also requires a question, for example how do different items react to static electricity. Best answer for What is a good eighth grade science project that my little brother can do?:
Answer by jasmine
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