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Name: Aidan
Status: student
Grade: 6-8
Country: Australia
Date: Fall 2011
Question:
Name: Aidan Status: student Grade: 6-8 Country: Australia Question: If two parachutes; one being a triangle, the other being a circle, with the same surface area, why will the circular parachute create the most drag?


Replies:
Hi Adian,

This is only a simple guess at an answer to a very complex aerodynamics question My guess is that the triangular parachute would have more drag, because for the same area as the round one, it has more peripheral (edge) length. Air flowing past the edge of a parachute (or the tip of an airplane wing) tends to be turbulent, and turbulence causes drag. Regards,

Bob Wilson




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