How Does The Canopy Affect The Drop Time Of A Parachute

Research Question:

How does the side lengths of a square parachute canopy affect the drop time of the parachute from a 460 cm drop height?

The side lengths of the square parachute canopy will be 30 cm, 35 cm, 40 cm, 45 cm, 50 cm. The dependent variable would be the drop time of the parachute released from 460 cm(the drop time is determined by the time it takes for the parachute to touch the ground safely and softly from the release point). The dependent variable will be measured in seconds.

Note: Since all squares have equal sides, therefore my parachute canopies will have equal sides as the shape of the canopy is a square. For example, when I test a parachute with a 35 cm side length canopy, it basically means I’m testing a parachute with

Without a parachute, the object will just fall straight down as the object pushes the air molecules out of the way. However, with a parachute, the parachute creates a large area of material which hits more air molecules and creates air resistance which slows the object down while in motion. This experiment is related to gravity as well because the earth’s gravity pulls everything towards it, the earth's gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared which is the acceleration rate as the object falls towards the ground. The parachute will counteract the gravity and slow down the object's movement by creating air resistance. This experiment is related to terminal velocity as the terminal velocity basically is measured when the sum of the drag force(the air resistance created by the parachute) and mass of the object equals to the downward force of earth’s gravity. The parachute increases the objects air resistance to balance it with the force of gravity, the object does not accelerate anymore and falls at a relatively constant speed. The parachute slows down an object by around 90% which allows the object to reach a low enough terminal speed to land safely and softly on the earth’s