“Gravity pulls down, but air resistance fights back!”
Today, our young scientists explored the forces acting on parachutes! They tested two parachutes—one with a larger surface area and another with a smaller one—both carrying the same weight. Standing on a chair, they dropped them simultaneously to see which one fell faster.
They observed two key forces at play: gravity and air resistance. Gravity pulled both parachutes downward, trying to make them fall quickly. However, air resistance pushed upward, slowing them down. The parachute with a larger surface area faced more air resistance, making it fall slower, while the smaller one had less resistance and dropped faster.
This simple yet exciting experiment helped students understand how forces interact and why parachutes are designed to slow things down safely.
