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Building hovercraft for 6th grade science project..Need some help..
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:15 am
by siddu001
Hello folks,
Good morning and happy Friday.
My son (6th grader) and I are building a hovercraft (circular in shape) for the science project .
For some reason when the air is blown the hovercraft raises but doesn't move. How can we make it to move around.
Are there any exact specifications on how big the skirt should be? And number of holes?
Thanks
nath
Re: Building hovercraft for 6th grade science project..Need some help..
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:09 am
by 324B21
Hey there Nath!
You and your son have decided to take on a great ambitious project. Congrats! I am also glad to see for safety's sake you both decided on a circular construction. I would suggest (if you haven't already done so) making sure as well that there is a cage/fan guards around any blades.
So, with this project we would need a bit more specificity on the design aspects already in place. Both the materials being used, and the size dimensions. From the sound of it, this could be the size of the skirt holding things back. It could also be the degree at which your air is coming through. (Force *a vector* with magnitude + direction is the rate at which momentum is changed in each direction. Example: a 90 degree change of flow from horizontal to vertical will give: thrust (in Newtons) = mass flow rate (kg/sec) x velocity (m/sec).
Are you using a leafblower, lawnmower, fans? Are you using a shower curtain for the skirt? These can all make a difference big enough to impact the air movement/flow.
If you need further assistance with this project, please respond back with a bit more information so we can assist with the troubleshooting as much as possible!
Elizabeth