Parachute Coursework

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Parachute Coursework

Prediction

My prediction is that as the weight of plastercine increases the time taken for the parachute to reach the ground will decrease

I think this because when the weight has just been dropped it is going slowly, but as it falls through the air it will gain speed until it reaches its terminal velocity. The weight does not change but the A.R gets bigger until it equals out the downwards force of gravity, so when the weight is larger it will have to fall further before the forces equal and it reaches terminal velocity.

A.R is equal to the weight of the falling mass being displaced in 1 second

What my experiment depends on is how fast the forces can balance. So using a larger weight will mean it will reach its terminal velocity slower.

Plan

Apparatus

Bin liner

4 equal lengths of string
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0 one gram weights of plastercine

Stopwatch- to measure the time it takes for the parachute to reach the ground

Meter ruler- to measure the distance the parachute has fallen

To make it a fair test I repeated the test 3 times and made an average of my results.

Pre-test

As we had no idea on what size of parachute area, weight of plastercine or length of string to use we had to do a pre-test, we tested each variable. We found that the best surface area for the parachute was half a ...

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This is a well structured and well written report. 1. The report needs to have an introduction that contains researched information. 2. Several sections are missing from the plan, such as a variables section. 3. The conclusion needs to quote data and explain the patterns. 4. The evaluation is very brief. ****