Need to make a parachute for physics, for a marble...

[chiwawa626]

The marble is 5grams, the parachute will be dropped from 8meters high, im guessint 3 storys...well i tryed making some parachutes, all they did was go straight then crooked...these were made outa plastic cut into a circle... i need some advice. I know i should put slits or holes in the parachute, but what kind? please help me, any links?

 

[Monel Funkawitz]

Cut the plastic into a square.

Tie 1 thread on each corner.

Duct tape marble on strings.

Done.

(If it goes at an angle, the string lengths are not the same, from the marble to the parachute.)

 

[JeremyJoe]

te plastic needs to look just like a bag from the super market but maybe smallerbecause it has to catch the air

 

[Jittles]

If you want to get real technical, make a small hole at the very top of the parachute, and that should help make it go straight, but it also will make it fall faster depending on how big you make it.

 

[cerebusPu]

whats the goal of the parachute?

are you trying to make it stay afloat longer?
are you trying to make it go straight?

ya gotta tell us more.

how big is your parachute suppose to be?

 

[chiwawa626]

the radius should be 30cm or less. The goal is to have the marble/parachute in the air for 5sec from a drop of 8meters and hit a target with the radius of 1 meter. Most accurate gets more points....i need myne to go strait it keeps goin crooked..

 

[chiwawa626]

grr..it goes angled even if the strings are perfect....and its a circle...
so will a square work good? is 4 strings fine or more? i cant friggin do this

 

[yata]

I did a similar one with one egg and some materials to make sure egg does break on landing.

Is there limit on how much stuff you can use? Just plastic?
I would use a square shape for the parachute plastic, and strings attached on the corners.

Otherwise try making 3 or 4 smaller 'chutes, like I on space shuttles and rocket landings.

 

[The Stigenator]

a circle one will not go straight cause the design of the chute will make the air flow out on one direction.. if you make a small hole on the top of the circle chute it will drop straight..

However the easiest is a square shute, make sure the lenghts of the ropes are all the same and put the weight in the middle. Again a small hole on the top (center) will help bring it down straight.

 

[chiwawa626]

i tryed everything u all said...just never goes straight

 

[chiwawa626]

ok goes straight but tooo fast, i need to slow her down...

 

[Ameesh]

make the chute larger, if you make it much larger i would make a small circular hold in the iddle to make sure it falls straight down still, ( small like a hole punch size)

 

[chiwawa626]

made a large circle then cut out a portion of it to make it a cone, made it so the height is half the slant height, so far so good, looks clean too, from indor tesiting of like 6ft it works pretty good, gotta go test it outside higher tomorw or inside higher....thanks guys

 

[rival]

sounds neat, just dont lose all your marbles over it!@ HAW! didnt see that comin did you?

 

[chiwawa626]

it goes crooked.... theres tape on one side where cone comes togather, so i tryed to blance that with tape on the other sides, didnt help much. what do i doo!!!

 

[Moonbeam]

You need a four handed marble with AI.

 

[bandXtrb]

send your resume to NASA

 

[batgeek]

upside-down cone is your best bet. but you'll need a gaggle of german engineers to get the specs to a point where that thing is going to go straight down.

 

[chiwawa626]

grr....this fvckin sucks..i need to hit a 1meter radius target...my parachute goes crooked!!

 

[Viper GTS]

1) Take a square piece of cloth (or plastic if that's what you have to use).
2) Tie something small & hard in each of the corners so that your strings won't slip. Dried corn kernels work well, as should a bb.
3) Fold your 'chute into 1/4's such that all four strings are in the same corner.
4) Cut the strings so they're all the same length.
5) Attach your payload.

I've done this lots of times (not recently, but when I was little) & had good results.

Viper GTS

 

[Scarpozzi]

I would attempt to make the parachute almost tube shaped.......and the bottom open more...notice the text drawing...
.... __
.../.....\
..|.......|
..|.......| <-------band inserted in or around the chute to enforce a solid shape.
./.........\
/...........\

What this will do is catch more air because of the increased vertical space of the chute. HOWEVER, you need to be sure that the outer edges are the maximum possible size to ensure that it doesn't fold up. One more suggestion. If you can use a band at the center of the chute to ensure it keeps its form. This will drop the marble almost straight down using this design if I'm correct, but it will be difficult to manufacture and if you have to pack the chute, I would suggest using light weight masking tape or electrical tape to enforce the shape you want in the plastic chute.

 

[crypticlogin]

Since you keep saying it goes crooked, use that to your advantage. Build a paraglider but with one side shorter than the other -- sure it'll go in circles, but it'll be a circle that spirals down and should hit your target. You're going to be a victim of wind with a "perfect" square or circle parachute so unless it's a calm day, I'm going to guess it's going to be tough.