Ping pong parachute is an engineering-based event hosted by Science Olympiad where students are tasked to build and test a bottle rocket indoors that deploys a parachute that holds a ping pong ball. The objective to achieve the highest time aloft for the ping pong ball. These concepts also apply to Indoor Bottle Rocket, another event held by Science Olympiad.
In this post, we will discuss what you should record and measure for your Science Olympiad Ping Pong Parachute practice log.
Creating a Ping Pong Parachute practice log is important for two different reasons:
Below you will find the most important and useful factors that should be included on your flight log to improve your productivity and results for your device.
Launch Psi is both a extremely important factor and required by the event rules. By recording and adjusting the launch psi of your ping pong parachute, you should be able to determine how mush psi is needed to launch your rocket to a specific height.
Like launch psi, time aloft is a required factor by the event rules. However, time aloft is different than other factors because it is not and independent variable, but is rather effected by other aspects. This allows you to compare your results that arise from various changes you have made and recorded. Ultimately, time should be your go-to factor to compare any adjustments you make.
Maximum height is the final required factor by the event rules and is important to see the correlation between the rocket’s height and psi. Perfecting this specific variable to that point where you can accurately predict the maximum height of your rocket will allow you to prevent any crashes in the ceiling of your testing site.
As we have discussed in previous posts and videos, parachutes create air resistance and drag which result in a slow time of decent for falling objects. However, if the drag force exceeded the downwards force necessary for a smooth decent, then parachute will not properly function. Therefore, to control the air resistance created by the parachute, it is important to record the parachute’s diameter.
As we have discussed in factor 3, controlling the maximum height of your rocket is important to prevent and ceiling crashes. Because rocket weight affects the gravitational pull on that rocket, it is important to adjust and record that factor to properly tweak the maximum height of your rocket.
Parachute system weight refers to the weight of the parachute, ping pong ball, string, and other material that is used to created the device that is deployed from the rocket. recording and adjusting this weight affect the decent of the ping pong ball.
The length of string that connects the ping pong ball to the parachute will affect the amount of air resistance that the parachute creates, so it is important to record that factor
On e of the more helpful factors that you could include is a notes section where you outline any changes that you have made other than what has been previously discussed. For example, you may have attempted to try a new way of playing the parachute system on the rocket. Recording data like this will allow you to look back at your previous trials an see what worked and what didn’t.
what is ping pong parachute Ping pong parachute is an engineering-based event hosted by Science Olympiad where students are tasked to build and test a bottle rocket indoors that deploys a parachute that holds a ping pong ball. The objective to achieve the highest time aloft for the ping pong ball. These concepts also apply…
what is ping pong parachute Ping pong parachute is an engineering-based event hosted by Science Olympiad where students are tasked to build and test a bottle rocket indoors that deploys a parachute that holds a ping pong ball. The objective to achieve the highest time aloft for the ping pong ball. These concepts also…
what is ping pong parachute Ping pong parachute is an engineering-based event hosted by Science Olympiad where students are tasked to build and test a bottle rocket indoors that deploys a parachute that holds a ping pong ball. The objective to achieve the highest time aloft for the ping pong ball. These concepts also apply…
The process In this post, you will learn how to build a parachute optimized for Science Olympiad’s Ping Pong Parachute event. Step 1: Weigh your ping pong ball Before you begin to build your parachute it is important to first weigh the ping pong ball that you are going to use with that parachute. Measuring…
How ping pong parachute works parachutes Parachutes work by creating air resistance, or drag, which, in turn, slows the speed at which an object falls at. If you imaging dropping a ping pong ball and a CD at the same time from the same height, you will notice that the CD will fall slower than…
What is ping pong parachute Ping pong parachute is an engineering-based event hosted by Science Olympiad where students are tasked to build and test a bottle rocket indoors that deploys a parachute that holds a ping pong ball. The objective to achieve the highest time aloft for the ping pong ball. These concepts also apply…