The great fall: gravity versus air
Terminal velocity: the speed limit of falling
Catching the wind: the art of the parachute
Slicing the sky: cheating drag on the ground
At what approximate speed did the Perseverance rover's parachute deploy in the Martian atmosphere?
artiteacher Drop objects through different atmospheres to discover how air resistance and gravity interact.
artiteacher André-Jacques Garnerin made the first high-altitude parachute jump in 1797.
Why did NASA's Perseverance rover need a massive parachute to land on Mars in 2021?
artiteacher Parachute Drag
We push the air to slow the fall (push it back!) / Drag balances gravity for us all (safe track!)
Da Vinci's parachute: Leonardo da Vinci's 1485 pyramid parachute design was actually built and successfully jumped by a daredevil in the year 2000.
artiteacher A giant nylon parachute slowed the Perseverance rover during its Martian descent.
What material did André-Jacques Garnerin use for his historic 1797 parachute canopy?
Why are modern military and sport parachutes often rectangular instead of round?
A folding cloth canopy used to slow down the descent of a falling person or object. In 1797, André-Jacques Garnerin made the first successful jump over Paris using a silk canopy.