Throughout their forces unit in science, year 5 have been looking at a variety of forces in action and how the effects this has on objects moving. They have explored how forces work in opposites and how they can change the speed of something travelling. This week, they focused on air resistance and how this force can change the way something moves through the air. We started by exploring surface area by dropping a scrunched up piece of paper and a flat piece of paper through the air. Children noticed that the scrunched up piece of paper had a smaller surface area and fell through the air quicker.
Using this knowledge, children looked closer at parachutes and how the shape of these support people moving through the air at a slower pace. Children were set the task of creating their own parachutes to test. Children tested these by dropping them from a height and measuring the time it took for it to fall to the ground.
