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Title: Oh 'Chute: Introductory Exploration of Inertia
Principle(s) Investigated: Air resistance, inertia
Standards: MS-PS2-2: Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Materials: Tissue paper, scale, pencil, tape, string
Procedure: Students will construct a parachute determining the best way to stop/ slow down the pencil's momentum as it is dropped.
Student prior knowledge: Students must understand/ be familiar with Newton's first law, and the law of gravity.
Explanation:
Students will collectively describe the most effective parachute. This parachute must slow the effects of the drop.
In groups of four [ all students will brainstorm and create their parachutes (one recorder, one timer, two experimenters)] students will experiment with different aspects of a tissue paper parachutes. Specifically looking at the size, number of layers, and the shape of the parachute. They must secure their pencil (skydiver) to the parachute.
Students will record the time it takes for the pencil to reach the ground one meter off of the top of the desk. Students will record each trial's time in seconds on the Data Recording Sheet. Each new adjustment made to the parachute must be tested for three trials.
One student in each group will note the time using Stopwatch. This student starts the time when the two experimenters release the parachute, and stops the time when the pencil lays flat on the ground. The recorder then inputs that time into the Oh 'Chute Data Sheet.
Questions & Answers:
Looking at the data collected, what would make for the best parachute?
What affects the slowing of the pencil's inertia the most?
What forces are acting upon the pencil?
Applications to Everyday Life: The seat belt stopping the person from continuing through the windshield of a fast braking car. The hockey puck sliding across the ice will continue to move in that line until it is acted upon. Ketchup forced out of a bottle, will continue its motion after being shaken down.
Photographs:
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