Parachute Design Competition

Day 1

Each group started from a prototype parachute.
• The prototype was made of a rectangular plastic tablecloth 25 cm x 50 cm.
• Each group tested the prototype by dropping it inside the classroom.
• The canopy was released by a student standing on the table top, approximately ?? cm above the floor, depending on the height of the student dropping the parachute.
• Students measured time to fall with a stopwatch
• Students created various measures of straightness
The following data was taken for the prototype:

Group	Time to fall in seconds	Dist. From target	Distance From target in cm
1	2.39 2.56 2.2	64 inches 20 inches 28 inches	157 51 71
2	2.71 3.6 1.8	Not measured
3	2.54 2.6 2.9	9 1/8 inch 17 inches 2.5 inches	23 43 6.4
4	1.93 1.82 1.92	Level 4 Level 4 Level 4

Day 2

Each of the 4 groups changed selected one feature (variable) of the canopy to change to make it fall the slower and the straighter. In addition to the prototype each group made two additional parachutes:

Group	Parachute variable changed	Additonal Parachutes made	“Best” performer
1	Material the canopy was made of	1 with heavy plastic 1 with tissue paper	Tissue paper canopy
2	Shape of the canopy. Note: kept area constant	Circular shape Equilateral Triangular shape	Circular canopy
3.	Number of vents cut into the canopy	1 vent 4 vents	Canopy with 4 vents
4.	Arrangement of straws taped on canopy. A total of ? straws were kept constant	Boarder frame X frame	Canopy with straws arranged in an “X”

Each group then selected their “best performer” and entered it in a free fall contest. Below are the results of a test fall from the 2nd story bridge between Sequoia and Humbolt Hall.

Aaron if you can take a photo of this walkway that would be great!

The following data was taken of the “best” parachute in each group:

From this data it appears that the tissue paper parachute yielded the best combination of long “fall time” and shortest distance to the target.