Making Parachutes

 

Parachutes are used to slow down an object falling to the ground. There are 2 forces acting upon the parachute – gravity and air resistance. Gravity is the force that is pulling the object down to the ground. Air resistance slows the parachute down so that the object can land slowly. It is affected by the size and material of the parachute.

We are going to make some parachutes and then test them to see what we think makes the best parachute. 

The first thing that we are going to do is make the bottom for the parachute. We are going to use a paper cup and make 4 holes at equal distances around the edge.  

We are then going to cut 4 pieces of string and tie these in place through the holes 

You next need to decide what material you want to use for your parachute. I have chosen fabric for this example. Lay your material out flat and put your paper cup in the centre. Pull your strings out towards the 4 corners and tape them in place

Your parachute is now ready to test. You can test it by dropping it and seeing how much it slows the paper cup down. You will probably want to go outside to test your parachute.

Once you have made one parachute you can make some other parachutes to test other materials and see what works the best. You may like to try tissue paper, and plastic carrier bags or see what other things you have at home that may work well.

You could also try experimenting with different size and shapes of parachutes and see how this affects the speed the paper cup falls, or you could try dropping the parachute from different heights (you may need an adult to help with that).

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page. or YouTube Channel