Ideal Parachute Parameters for Maximum Air Time

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fzacek

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I'm building a parachute for my physics class in which we need to use a 2 ounce weight and make a parachute for it. We'll throw the bundled up parachute up into the air and the goal is to have it be in the air as long as possible. Sorry if this isn't really related to this forum, but I consistently found answers here when I was doing some background research. Here are some questions I have about the parachute I should make for this project:

Should I make a round, dome-shaped parachute or a wing-shaped one?
What would the optimal size of the parachute be so that I can get the slowest decent without any instability/tangles, considering I'm using a 2 ounce weight?
Would it be best to use as many shroud lines as possible, maybe 16, or is that too much?
Do you have any other tips for the longest air time/slowest decent?

Thanks,
Filip

PS: I can throw the bundled up parachute about 40 feet at most, and the air time I'm aiming for is 10 seconds or more.
 
I'm building a parachute for my physics class in which we need to use a 2 ounce weight and make a parachute for it.

Should I make a round, dome-shaped parachute or a wing-shaped one?

What would the optimal size of the parachute be so that I can get the slowest decent without any instability/tangles, considering I'm using a 2 ounce weight?

Would it be best to use as many shroud lines as possible, maybe 16, or is that too much?

Do you have any other tips for the longest air time/slowest decent?

1. Of the parachutes that you mentioned, the dome-shape (spherical) parachute has the highest drag coefficient. The elliptical parachute also has a high drag coefficient, and uses less material. Those Fruitychutes I suppose are even better.

2. Optimal size is to make as large a parachute as possible and still get good altitude and reliable deployment. There is a trade off between the mass of the parachute and how high you can throw both it and the 2-oz. weight. There's your experiment.

3.Make the shroud lines 1.5X the diameter of the parachute. More shroud lines are better than fewer shroud lines.

4.Folding techniques influence how quickly or slowly a parachute deploys. How are you going to keep the parachute from deploying before the 2 oz. weight gets to the maximum altitude?
 
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