Name

_________________________________________________

Date ______________________

Period _______

THE PHYSICS OF SKYDIVING Pre Lab (Lesson 1 Assessment)

Answer the following questions from what you know about balanced and unbalanced forces and draw a
picture with the relevant forces

1. Sitting in the plane, the downward force of gravity is equal to the upward
force from the floor of the plane, so the skydiver does not fall. His downward
speed stays constant at 0 m/sec because the forces are (balanced /
unbalanced)

2. When the skydiver first jumps out of the plane, gravity is the only force
present. The forces are (balanced/unbalanced). What happens to the motion
of the skydiver?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. The skydiver then opens his parachute. At first, the upward force of air
resistance is greater than the downward force of gravity. At first, these forces
are (balanced/unbalanced). What happens to the motion of the skydiver?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

3. After a short time, the upward force of air resistance becomes equal to the
force of gravity. The two forces are (balanced/unbalanced). What happens
to the motion of the skydiver?

_________________________________________________________________________________________
_

5. As the skydiver slows down, the amount of air resistance decreases to where
it becomes equal to gravity. Again, the two forces have become
(balanced/unbalanced). What happens to the motion of the skydiver?

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Lesson 2 Assessment
Name _________________________________________________
Date ______________________

Period _______

How Do Skydivers Land Safely?

Problem: Does the size of the parachute affect how slow a skydiver falls?
Hypothesis: Write your hypothesis as an If-then-because statement.

_____[is related to/affects]______,

____[this]____ will happen

______.

If _____________________________________________________________________
then ___________________________________________________________________
because _________________________________________________________________
1. Define the following forces (look in your text book or your word foldable):

Gravity:





Air Resistance:






Weight:







Mass:

Data:
Parachute Size

20 cm sides

30 cm sides

40 cm sides

50 cm sides

Trial 1 (sec)
Trial 2 (sec)
Trial 3 (sec)
Average (total
of all trials/5)

Create a bar graph of your averaged data. (This means you will have 4 bar graphs).

Lesson 3 Assessment
Period: ______
ANALYZE your data: What story does the graph tell?Date:
What____________________
do the numbers tell you?
Do you
see a relationship?
Data Analysis:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: ___________________________________________

Looking at your data, what do the numbers tell you? (Consider what the data would look like on a graph.)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

CONCLUSION:
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Looking at your data table and graph, what do the numbers tell you? What story does the graph
tell? What do the numbers tell you? Do you see a relationship? What did you learn from your
investigation?
Complete
the table below.
Conclusion:
Claim
Supporting
What did you learn from
your investigation? Complete the T-chart below.
Rewrite Hypothesis
(If.then.because)
Claim

Evidence

Data and Observations that Confirm or Reject the

Hypothesis
Supporting
Evidence

Rewrite Hypothesis

Data and Observations that

or

the Hypothesis

________________________________

If________________________________

If______________________________________

_____________________________________________

_________________________________
_______________________________________

________________________________
_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________
v
________________________________
then______________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_________________________________
_______________________________________

_____________________________________________

_______________________________

_____________________________________________

________________________________

because___________________________

_______________________________________

_____________________________________________

_________________________________

________________________________

aka right!

aka maybe!

aka rejected!

YMS 7th Grade Physical Science 2012-2013 with Ms. Egetimeier

Binder Section: Labs

CONCLUSION continued:
Take the ideas that you wrote in the conclusion chart and write them into sentence form below.
Dont forget to include whether you accepted or rejected your hypothesis. Include academic
vocabulary (the more the better) to explain your ideas and use at least three transition words
from the word bank but more is better.

Transition Words
Although

Even though

Similarly

Likewise

In Comparison

Academic Vocabulary

Therefore

Terminal Velocity

Not only... but also...

Meanwhile

To begin

Balanced
Acceleration

Unbalanced
Gravity

Weight

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Group Evaluation:

Facilitator: _________________________________

Time Keeper: __________________________________________

Recorder: ___________________________________

Materials Manager: __________________________________

How did your group work together? How did each member of the group participate?