Science fair project ideas – Quick and easy project #1 part 2 - Parachutes

In part 1 of this hub, we went over the basics of parachutes and how they work. Now we will go over the materials you will need for the project, and the experimental procedures. Once we’ve gone over all that, I think you will agree with me that studying parachutes is one of the cooler science fair project ideas.

Let’s get started.

Science fair project ideas always come with requirements, whether it’s the material you will need or the steps you need to take for the experiment.

• Heavy weight garbage bags

• Metric ruler

• Scissors

• Washers

• Twist ties

• Lightweight string

• Stopwatch

1. The trash bag material will be used to make the parachutes. The first thing you need to do is cut the garbage bag along the seams to create a large, flat sheet of the plastic.

2. You will need to make several different parachutes in sizes varying from small to large. Each one will be shaped in a square, so each of the sides needs to be the same measurement. For example, you can make the first parachute have the length of 10cm for each side. Then the second parachute could have each side be 20cm, and so on until you have four different parachutes. These are just suggestions for science fair project ideas, so feel free to experiment.

3. Using the heavy duty garbage bag, cut your four different squares for the parachutes. It will be easier if you make a four-layered fold in the plastic and cut them all together. Simply figure out what size you want your squares to be and cut the edges that are on the opposite side of the fold to about half that length. When you open it, it will be the size square you want!

4. You need to create a place to tie on your anchor to in each corner of the square, tie a knot.

5. Using your string, cut segments that are 40 cm in length. You will need four strings for every parachute.

6. Then, tying each piece of string around a different corner knot, position the string directly above the knots.

7. Grab the center of the plastic garbage bag sheet with one hand. Gather the four strings and using an overhand knot, tie all of the loose ends together.

8. Affix your anchor, 4 washers to your group of strings using a twist tie. Make sure that all of your parachutes have 4 washers.

9. Now you need to get your stopwatch and gather the parachutes. Take them to a high surface for your test, like a playground or balcony. This is what makes this one of the more exciting science fair project ideas!

10. With a stopwatch, drop your parachute and see how long it is in the air until it hits the ground. Run each parachute test three times and calculate the average of the three trials. If you want, you can run more than three trials. This will give you better data. Be sure to keep your information in a record table.

11. It’s a good idea to graph the data you find. A line graph of the surface area of the parachute compared to the time it takes to fall would work well. Place surface area information on the left axis and your time data gathered in seconds on the x-axis or bottom. Then draw a point at every location where the data intersects. Once your draw a line to connect the points, you will notice your line either slopes upward or downward. What does the different slope indicate about the relationship of the surface area and time? How is this relevant to your hypothesis?

Now that you’ve got your experiment under way, you may want to think of some other variables that could be used.  

•    Change the height by dropping the parachute from different heights.

•    Alter how many washers you attach, changing load weight.

•    Adjust the string length or string weight (thicker or thinner).

•    Use a new material to create your parachutes like cotton or paper.

Before you continue, I always suggest downloading a free copy of Easy Steps to Award-Winning Science Fair Projects