Speed of a Falling Paper Cone

Speed of a Falling Paper Cone

Six paper cones will be made, one with a radius of 2cm, one with a

radius of 4cm, one with 6cm, one with 8cm, one with 10cm and a final

one with a radius of 12cm. The cones will be made by using a compass

to draw a circle on a piece of paper. According to the radius

required, the compass point's distance from the pencil will be

measured and changed using a ruler. Once the circles are drawn they

will be cut out and folded over themselves by a quarter of their

circumference to form cones. They will be sellotaped in place, and are

now ready to be dropped. A measuring tape will be attached to the wall

and the cones dropped from the two meter mark of the measuring tape.

The cones should be dropped facing downwards with the rim level with

the two meter mark. When the cone is dropped a stopwatch will be

started, the stopwatch is started by the same person who drops the

cone to achieve maximum accuracy, the stopwatch is stopped the moment

any part of the cone touches the ground. If the cone hits the wall or

any other object on its way down, the measurement will be considered

void, and that one will be re-measured. Each cone will be dropped 3

times, assuming no measurements are void. Each time a cone is dropped

the time will be taken and recorded. Once all measurements have been

taken and recorded successfully the experiment will be complete.

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Collecting valid evidence,

To achieve accurate measurements the evidence from your experiment

must be valid. The evidence collected will be valid because only one

factor was changed and all others remain the same and if there is

believed to be a problem ...

... middle of paper ...

...rrect. Our prediction should be correct; because when the cone

with the largest surface area, the 12cm cone, is dropped it should

produce the most air resistance, and because terminal velocity is

reached when weight equals air resistance and this cone has a large

air resistance, terminal velocity should be reached quicker causing

the cone to slow down quicker and reach the ground in a longer time

than the smaller cones. We can apply this experiment to Newton's first

law, as he stated that if balanced forces act on a moving object it

will move with a constant velocity, and not accelerate. This is why

when the two forces; weight and air resistance are equal the cone

reaches terminal velocity, stopping it accelerating and increasing the

time it takes to reach the ground.

Person reads off results as partner records them.