Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!

Phew!

Goal: To design a parachute that allows the teddy bear to float safely down from the 5th floor of the
science center to the 1st floor.
Observation Experiment
Drop a large coffee filter from a height of about 2 meters. Notice that it appears to quickly reach a
constant velocity during the fall. This constant velocity is called the terminal velocity and occurs when
the force the earth exerts on the filter is equal in magnitude to the upward drag force due to the air.
Draw a free-body diagram of a falling coffee filter at terminal velocity.
Available Equipment: Coffee filters, stop watch, small paper clips to increase mass slightly.

Use the Testing Experiment Table for this part.

Part 1. Laminar vs. Turbulent Flow
Definitions
1. The viscosity of the fluid (the fluids resistance to flow) is the dominant frictional effect and the
fluid flows smoothly around the object. Laminar flow is used to model the drag force on objects
moving at low speeds through a viscous medium (note that low speeds and viscous medium
are relative terms). In this regime the drag force is proportional to the velocity.
2. The fluid flow around the object is irregular and unstable; the drag force is dominated by what are
called inertial forces, which are measures of how hard it is to push the fluid out of the way of the
moving object. Turbulent flow is used to model the drag force on objects moving at high speeds
through a less viscous medium. The drag force is proportional to the square of the velocity.

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Hypotheses to Test
1. A parachute falling through air exhibits laminar flow.
2. A parachute falling through air exhibits turbulent flow.
Describe a testing experiment for each hypothesis.
Make a prediction about the outcome of each experiment based on the hypothesis.
Write down any assumptions you are making.
Perform the testing experiment.
Write your conclusion based on the outcomes of the experiments.
Part 2 Designing the Parachute
Since the welfare of the teddy bear depends on your data you want to verify that the data youve collected
so far is accurate. That is, how well does it represent the velocity dependence of the drag force? To get a
sense for this you want to make a graph.
Available equipment: Plastic bag, string, teddy bear, ruler, scissors, tape.
Make a graph of mg vs v for the data set that best represented the situation in Part 1.
Linearizing the Data (your initial data shouldnt be linear)
Often times it is easier to analyze data if the variables are linearly dependent. If they are not it helps to
think whether there is a mathematical way to make them linearly dependent.
Lets look at a random example: Suppose a force is proportional to the square of the velocity (f = cv2).
A useful math trick to help analyze this situation is to take the natural log (ln) of both sides;
ln(f) = ln(c) + 2ln(v).
Do you recognize the form of this equation?
Make a second graph that shows the linear dependence.
Now you decide do the three data points you have sufficiently represent the situation? If not, take more
data.
Determine a value for k from your graph.

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The air resistance factor is given by

, where Cd is the drag coefficient, air = 1.225 kg/m3, and

A is the effective cross-sectional area of the filter. Determine a value for the drag coefficient of the filters.

Final Goal:
You are now going to design and make a round parachute from a plastic bag, big enough so that the teddy
bear will make a soft landing (2 m/s) when dropped from the 5th floor of the science center. The
parachute material is very expensive so dont waste any (dont just make it randomly large).
Assume the drag coefficient for the parachute is the same as what you calculated for the filters and
determine the size of the parachute.
Assume that the bear is going to reach terminal velocity very quickly. How can we know if it lands at the
target speed?
Show your instructor the teddy bears soft landing.

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