物理降落伞速率实验报告.pdfVIP

Motion Laboratory Report Background information / Introduction: The investigation is to test whether the increase of the surface area of an object would cause a change in the velocity since there is more air resistance for a larger surface area. The theory will be tested through the experiment of dropping different sizes of parachutes attaching to a juice box. Purpose: To observe a free falling object (with a parachute made of plastic bags attached to it), in case that the influential factors (the size of the object, the height of the releasing point, the vertical distance between the parachute and the object etc.) stay constant, how does changing the surface area of the parachute affect the velocity of the falling object? Hypothesis: If the surface area of the parachute increases, then the downward average velocity of the object would decrease due to the increased air resistance. Claudia Zhang Science 10-A May 14,2015 If the object is falling down with the force of gravity, applying Newton’s Second law : Force = Mass x Acceleration, the falling object has “mass·gravity” of force. Since the earth is not a vacuum, then there would be air resistance acting upward as the mg of force is pulling the object downward: “Air resistance is a friction-like force that opposes the motion of objects that move through the air… The amount of the air resistance force depends on the speed, size, shape [and cross-sectional area] of the object” (BC Science, 399) and “how thick the fluid is that is going through” which is the air itself. Air resistance is velocity dependent, because “air resistance is the result of collisions of the objects leading surfa