Wednesday, October 19, 2011

What a Drag!

Fieldale Community Center participants were challenged to use several common materials such as coffee filters, tissue paper, and straws to design and build a parachute that would drop a toy to the ground at the slowest possible rate. Also, participants discovered the importance of drag (a force that counters gravity) and how it affects landing time.












Next, we discussed different shapes of parachutes. Then, they sketched their designs and were given 10 minutes to construct the parachute.











After testing the parachutes, participants were asked to change one aspect of their parachute that would increase the landing time.








An example of the final product!