Up, Up, and Away: Floating/Falling

Activity Objectives

• Students will experiment with a wind chamber, and see what floats and what falls on a chamber of air.

Vocabulary/Literature Resource

• Float, fall, lift, thrust

Materials Chart

Consumable supplies to gather and/or purchase:    

• Dixie cups

• Coffee filters

• Scratch paper

• Helicopter seed pattern   
  

Permanent supplies:

• Fan with base (fan should be able to point directly up)

• Large piece of paperboard or clear acrylite sheet

• Stepstool or chair to stand on

• Scissors

Activity Plan

Advanced preparation - Make vertical wind tunnel:

• Form paperboard or acrylite sheet into a large tube with about the same diameter as the fan.

• Place tube on fan when fan is pointing straight into the air.  Secure with tape.

• When fan is on air should blow up through tube creating the vertical wind tunnel