How does the mass of the paper helicopter affect the drop time of the paper helicopter?

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Physics Internal Assessment

How does the mass of the paper helicopter affect the drop time of the paper helicopter?

Nhi Le

P. 6

Design:

Problem: How does the mass of the paper helicopter affect the drop time of the paper helicopter?

Hypothesis: If the mass of the paper helicopter increases, then the drop time of the paper helicopter will decrease because the paper helicopter with the greater mass will take a longer time to reach terminal velocity ( when there is a balance of forces and thus zero acceleration) which results in a shorter drop time because the object is still accelerating.

Manipulated Variable: The mass of the paper helicopter

The mass of the paper helicopter will be measured by using 5 paperclips of each .7g (±.1g) and the same paper helicopter whose mass is .3g (±.1g) each time. The mass of the paperclips and paper helicopter will be measured with an electric scale whose uncertainty is (±.1g).  

Responding Variable: The drop time of the paper helicopter

The drop time will be measured with a stopwatch (±.01s). The timing will start when the hand lets go of the paper helicopter at a drop height of 1 meter and stop when the paper helicopter touches the floor. The same person will be timing for each trial.

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Controlled Variable: 

A control of this experiment would be having the drop height the same throughout the experiment. This will be measured by using a meter stick and marking the height at which to drop the paper helicopter. The paper helicopter will drop at that marked height each time. Another control of this experiment would be having the same person timing the experiment for every trial. To keep the data as consistent as possible, the experiment will be using the same stopwatch, electric scale and paper helicopter each time. Another control would be using 5 paperclips of each with ...

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