parachutes

parachutes


My Team and I were presented with the following problem: we had to design a parachute that will allow cargo to drop without any damage. I discovered that parachutes come in different shapes and sizes. For example there are domed-shaped ones and there are rectangular para foil shaped ones. The best of these two is the domed-shaped one because it traps the air inside its envelope creating a region of high pressure. I also discovered that how a parachute works, it works by when in use its fabric expands and the drag or air resistance is created. This drag slows down the descent rapidly thus, allowing the falling person to land safely.
When designing our parachute, we had to consider the following constraints:The cargo must not be damaged(Cracked/broken), The cargo and parachute must be dropped from 4 meters, The parachute must reach terminal velocity, and the cargo must be a raw egg. The 1st solution was good because it was light and it was more likely to reach terminal velocity, but it wasn't great because there was no where to keep the cargo. The 2nd solution was okay because it had a cargo holder and the cargo didn't break, but it fell out of its container. The 3rd solution was the best because its size was reasonable and it had a place for the cargo. After carefully considering all of our alternative solutions, our group decided to pursue solution #3 because it was the best of the three and the cargo had a more less chance of being damaged.
We constructed our prototype parachute by using the following materials: String, Water Bottle, Wallpaper, and tape. We tested our parachute design by using a golf ball as the cargo and dropping it from 4 meters. we tested our design this was because the real cargo was limited and we were just checking to see if it worked. Through testing we discovered that our parachute didn't fall in a straight line due to it being lopsided. After initial testing, we realized that we could potentially...

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