Physics Of Parachutes Essay

Did you know parachutes come in all kinds of different shapes? The shapes vary from circles to triangles. However which one is the fastest? There are many factors that effect the speed of parachutes. Kinetic and potential, for example, influence the parachutes speed and movement. When a skydiver jumps out of an airplane gravity pulls him towards the ground and he doesn’t have enough air resistance to safety land on the ground. That’s where the parachute comes in! When the skydiver pulls the ripcord the parachute opens and provides enough air resistance for him to safety land. Gravity and air resistance are constantly at work when the parachute opens and descends. Kinetic and potential energy are also related to parachutes. When the skydiver jumps from the airplane he has high kinetic energy and low potential energy because of how fast he’s descending. When he opens the parachute he slows down so his kinetic energy drops and suddenly he has a lot of potential. Throughout the skydiver’s …show more content…
Square parachutes are rather slow and mostly focus on safety. They are mostly used for sport skydiving, but sometimes used by the U.S and Canadian army. Rectangle parachutes are also mostly used in sport, but are sometimes used by the U.S. Navy. In the 1900s the military would use triangular parachutes because the shape eliminated spinning and dizziness. Although, after some experimentation scientists were able to create a brand new circular parachute. This new circular parachute, like the triangular parachutes, didn’t cause dizziness and was also much faster. Round parachutes are now widely used in the military by paratroopers and for cargo drop-offs. The parachutes’ shapes impact how that type of parachute is used. Which parachute descends the fastest, the round parachute! That explains why it is mostly used in the military. The slowest parachute would be the squarical parachute. Square parachutes are usually used for