Hello friends of @steemiteducation, following the trend of conducting home experiments as a teaching strategy for our children today we are going to study a very interesting topic that will catch the attention of the youngest ones! Your son or student has never asked you how they do the paratroopers not to plummet to the ground? well. To me, yes!! and today we will answer that question by studying Air Resistance.

The little ones love the experiments and more when they do them themselves, since they have fun and learn to learn.

Before beginning the Experiments we will study some concepts that will help our little ones understand what they are about:

What is Air and what is called Air Resistance?

The air is a mixture of gases that is everywhere, we can not see it but we can feel it, for example if the wind blows. When an object moves it has to push the air away from its path because the air hinders its progress. It can be compared to what happens when walking on water. This force that exerts the air on the object and that opposes the movement is called air resistance.

Let's start with the fun !! Let's go with the Experiments!

Air resistance experiment with two sheets of paper

Is air resistance equal for all objects? Does it depend on the shape of the object? Investigate it with this simple experiment.

Materials:

• Two equal sheets of paper.

Process:

• Make a ball with one of the leaves.

• Drop the ball and the sheet at the same time.

What has happened?

The ball reaches the ground first. Why? The two sheets of paper were the same before the shape of one of them changed, however, the ball does not have to remove as much air as the sheet to move forward because its area of ​​contact with the air is smaller and that makes the air resistance is lower and can reach the ground earlier.

Let's continue with the fun:

To continue experimenting with the air Build a toy parachute.

Why does a parachute work? To find out, there is no better way than to manufacture one and check its operation. Children will love it and learn about gravity and air resistance.

Materials:

• Plastic bag.
• Scissors.
• Big dish.
• Fine rope
• Zeal.
• Small doll or clothespin.

Process:

• Cut a circle or square out of the plastic bag, the bigger the better. You can make two parachute designs: one circular and one octagonal, using a plate to draw the circle and for the octagonal you first make a square and then cut out the corners.

• Cut 8 pieces of rope for each parachute whose length is about 3 times the radius.

• With the scissors, make 8 holes equally spaced at the edges of the circle. To know where to pierce, fold the circle in half 3 times. In the octagon, make a hole in each vertex.

• Pass the strings through the holes and secure with zeal.

• Attach with a rubber or stick the strings to the parachutist doll or if you prefer, use a clothespin.

• Try your parachute throwing them up, on a stool, or better yet take them to the park and throw them from the top of the slide.

• To improve the stability of the parachute cut a small circle in the center.

It is important that if the child is going to climb to launch the parachute from a relatively high place, be supervised by an adult.

My daughter Sophia had fun for hours throwing and launching her parachute !!

What has happened?

When the objects fall in the vacuum (without air) they accelerate due to the force of gravity with an acceleration of 9.8 m / s. That means that every second its speed increases by 9.8 m. So the bigger the fall height, the higher the speed. However when there is air, it brakes the objects in its fall.

This force is the resistance of the air and depends largely on the shape of the falling object. The greater the cross-sectional area, the greater the resistance, the slower the fall. The open parachutes have a huge surface exposed to the air and that's why things or people that fall attached to it can land safe and sound. The hole in the center of the parachute will make it fall faster but more straight, without so many oscillations because it lets in some air.

Children love to do experiments. With them, while having fun, they learn and ask questions about the world around them. Among its many benefits, scientific exploration feeds the child's natural curiosity, fosters his interest in science, stimulates reasoning and logic, improves his ability to solve problems, increases his self-esteem and prepares them to understand more complicated scientific concepts in the future.

To enjoy science is not necessary to have a laboratory, you will be surprised by the amount of experiments that can be done with some home materials. So do not wait any longer, get to work and have fun with your children or students.

I hope that this article has been of your interest and help, and I hope you in my next publication.

Regards!!!

Pages reference:

• http://conceptodefinicion.de/aire/

• http://www2.vernier.com/sample_labs/CMV-35-resistencia_del_aire.pdf