INTRODUCTION:
Since I was young, I have been interested in astronomy and aerospace, and
always wanted to explore whats out in the universe. While looking at
pictures of Nasas probe, I always wondered why is there a vent in a
parachute, and whether it was efficient. Especially, in the places where the
air concentrations are low, I thought having the vents would increase the
speed and potentially take risk to crash onto the surface. Then, while
investigating more on parachutes, I have realized that there are multiple
types of parachute, each of them having the different size of hole. This made
me to be interested to investigate what effects does the size of the vent give
in the parachute.
Background information:
To explain the mechanism of a parachute, one has to understand that
parachute uses its surface area to create drag force, reacting to the weight
that is intended to free-fall. From the diagram that I have created, this shows
that by trapping the air particles in that designated area, those air particles
creates a drag force in the reaction against the gravitational force, thus
decreasing the size of net force relative to the gravitational force.
Figure 1: Side view with mechanism of a parachute
Thus, as shown on the following diagram, aerodynamically, creating an apex
vent would make the air particles to escape from the parachute, and that
would decrease the ratio of drag force to gravitational force, increasing the
net force and the terminal velocity. However, by adding an apex vent to the
parachute, the air that has been escape is used as the form of balance
indicator, which reduces the risk of parachute to be malfunctioned or to flip
over, which caused by unbalanceness of the parachute while falling.
Figure 2: A side view and its mechanism of a parachute with
an apex vent
Hypothesis
I hypothesized that as the bigger the radius of the apex vent, the more air
particles would come out, which creates a stronger buttress of the
parachute. This would make the parachute to be a more accurate and closely
approach to a linear fall. I hypothesized this and using my imagination and
my logical reasoning. Taking the assumption that normal object which freely
fall acquire linear fall, I imagined that the parachute would be closer to a
linear fall.
METHODS:
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Materials:
As I started to investigate this project, one of my objective is to use materials
which can be found in everyday life. This is because I live in a relatively
underdeveloped country(India), and it is quite challenging to get the
materials which are feasible. To make a parachute, I decided to cut an A4
sheet of paper, used cotton string, and paperclips for the weight. To avoid
the parachute from being ripped, I have used tape for the structure to be
rigid.
Setting up & Conducting the experiment
I have set the location in my living room, where it is practically sealed
without any artificial or natural air movement. Although this would make the
experiment less practical, as parachutes are used outdoors where natural
wind can interrupt the landing with parachute, I decided to remove that
factor in order to focus solely on the effects of an apex vent. I have selected
the height that the parachute will fall as 2m, and from my approximation
from sight, I attempted to make the parachute in an pre-designated point.
The size of the apex vent I then measured the distance between the
designated point and the midpoint of the parachute.
In designing the parachute, I have chosen to build a 21cmx21cm squareshaped parachute, not only for the sake of simplicity, but also because many
of the parachutes are designed as square-shape. As shown in the
background knowledge, having a gravitational force is necessary in order to
effectively create a drag force, so I have used paper clips to create 2.87g
weight for the parachute. In order to remove other factors, the weight will be
a constant value in all trials.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS:
Table 1:
Radius
0.5cm
1cm
1.5cm
2cm
2.5cm
3cm
3.5cm
Trial 1
81.24
cm
35.5cm
9.8cm
11.8cm
5.5cm
18.3cm
20.0cm
Trial 2
25.0cm
29.8cm
35.8cm
6.9cm
5.0cm
18.1cm
18.9cm
Trial 3
68.3cm
48.1cm
10.7cm
7.1cm
1.4cm
18.0cm
31.3cm
Trial 4
83.7cm
17.0cm
28.9cm
9.7cm
9.9cm
27.6cm
19.1cm
Trial 5
51.1cm
23.3cm
11.5cm
8.5cm
5.3cm
17.4cm
d
18.9cm
Radius
4cm
4.5cm
5cm
5.5cm
6cm
6.5cm
7cm
Trial 1
23.4cm
20.9cm
49.5cm
96.3cm
Trial 2
27.1cm
19.9cm
39.9cm
39.1cm
Trial 3
19.7cm
24.8cm
21.3cm
56.9cm
Trial 4
25.3cm
49.1cm
49.0cm
91.9cm
Trial 5
27.0cm
38.0cm
33.9cm
79.8cm
As I have proceeded the experiment, starting from 5cm radius, the parachute
repetitively flipped, which resulted as neglecting the result and repeating the
trial. From 6 cm radius, it seemed to be impossible to attempt a trial and
gather applicable data, so I have stopped the experiment from this point.
Table 2:
Radius of an apex vent
Average Distance from the targeted point
0.5 cm
61.86 cm
1 cm
30.74 cm
1.5cm
19.34 cm
2 cm
8.8 cm
2.5 cm
5.42 cm
3 cm
19.76 cm
3.5 cm
21.64 cm
4 cm
24.5 cm
4.5 cm
30.54cm
5 cm
38.72 cm
5.5 cm
72.8 cm
Graph 1:
Uncertainties
In this experiment, the uncertainties were fairly obvious to calculate. In
designing the parachute, measuring the height, and measuring the distance
between the parachute and the designated point, I have unanimously used a
1m ruler. The smallest degree of measurement in my rule was 1 mm, so all of
my measurements contain an 1mm uncertainty.
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Analysis
The results of the experiment were quite interesting. Before discussing the
practical values of this experiment, it is worthy to talk about the estimated
results. As mentioned in the introduction, I have hypothesized that as the
size of the apex vent become larger, the more the fall would be like free-fall.
The closer the y-value is to 0, the closer the experiment is having linear falls.
However, the practical results were the mere opposites the estimated, which
became clear as the apex vent has grown bigger. The experiment were
following the predicted, the fall was becoming closer to a linear fall, however,
the graph 1 indicated that starting from 3 cm radius, the accuracy of the fall
of the parachute has steeply decreased, missing the prediction.
This misprediction could be because of the human error, such as false
measurement and misalignment of the parachute when falling, but could be
also because of the scientific reason. The theory of this decrease in accuracy
that looks reasonable is that the air particles that are used in such form of a
buttress is not enough for a large apex vent, and therefore the parachute is
becoming unstable and inaccurate.
CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION:
The research question To what extent does the size of the apex vent
increase the accuracy of a parachute can be answered as there was deep
relationship between the apex vent and its accuracy. It has been determined
that the size of the apex vent has a correlating relationship with the accuracy
to some extent, but at some point(in my experiment between 2 and 3 cm
radius), increasing the apex vent reverses the accuracy of the parachute.
Although my initial hypothesis has been incorrect as I didnt expect
increasing the apex vent would cause decrease in accuracy, it can be
modified that to some extent increase in the radius would increase the
accuracy, until the point where the surface area cant catch enough air
particles.
The strengths of my investigation is that I was using very easily accessible
materials, and so it was possible for me to attempt many trials in many
different radiuses of apex vent. Also, I did not need to worry of disposing my
materials, as there was no chemicals that would seriously impact the
environment.
However, there was also some weaknesses in my investigation. First, many
of my measurements that I have used were relied on my sense perception,
and therefore it created human errors which reduces the precision of my
experiment. Second, the model parachute that I have used quite dont
portray real parachute. I have neglected some nuanced design in order to
make the experiment more easy and simple to conduct.
In order to improve my experiment, rather than on relying on my eyesight, I
would use a long meter stick or so, to make sure that the trials that Im
conducting are more accurate and precise. I would also use a different
material of my parachute, I dont think using paper doesnt quite portray the
real conditions of the parachute.
Bibliography:
LLC, AXIS Flight School. "Home." Skydiving Coaching and Training, Canopy Piloting, Body Flight,
Camera Flight | AXIS Flight School. AXIS Flight School LLC, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.
