Big Balloons and High Roofs

Parachute Testing

If you think scientists don't get to do exciting things, then you haven't met our science honors group. On Monday Jordan, Olivia, and Kayla ran a parachute test from the roof with Dr. Rowley. Who doesn't like throwing things off roofs?! We used a high speed GoPro camera to videotape the falling package from the ground. After measuring the building using the windows as a form of ruler, we were able to calculate (frame by frame) the distance traveled per .001 second. We wanted to determine the terminal velocity and acceleration with varied weights. The variables of wind and difficulty of measuring a tall building made our data unreliable. You would expect the speed to increase with weight since it had the same parachute drag. Though we did not see the trend we expected, or a trend at all really (remember, it's science) we were able to get a rough estimate of how fast our balloon will be falling. 

Radio Home Base 

Meanwhile in RadioLand Michael and Andrew have been getting some mixed signals. With Michael on the roof with one radio and antenna, and Andrew walking around campus with a second set, they lost connection after about 1/4 mile (2 furlongs, 80 rods, 4.5 football fields, etc). That's great for a local campus radio station! The bad news is the stratosphere is more like 20 miles away which is quite different. Clearly the radios need some alterations. 

We have also been running tests on the laytex balloons that we will be filling with helium. In the gym we were able to measure how much force will be exerted on the string between the lunchbox (with all the components inside) and the balloon during liftoff. The last thing we need is for the string to break and our balloon to fly away without the attachment. After talking in some squeaky helium voices we filled one all the way up to 20 feet in diameter with air, much larger than we will need. This allowed us to analyze the pressure inside the ballon with respect to volume. The original intent was to fill one until it popped to find the maximum volume. The instructions claim they can stretch to 30 feet in diameter! Sadly, due to a lack of time and low ceilings, we were not able to pop the balloon. But hey, you can't have too much fun in one day right?! Especially since fun activities tend to be dangerous. NOTE: To all concerned mothers: All 11 of us are still alive... even if we haven't had enough time to call recently.

For reassurance, you should be sure to like our Facebook page because there are lots of new photos! Hopefully your work days haven't been as long as ours...bonus points to whoever guesses how many hours I spent in Paine today. :) 

--Kayla