Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
- 🧍 Drop from standing: never climb
My hypothesis
If I change the shape of the paper, then how long the paper takes to fall will ______, because ______.
You fill in the blanks. Think about how much air each shape pushes against as it falls. A guess is a good because: the test finds out.
Change, measure, keep the same
CHANGE
the shape of the paper: Flat sheet, Folded small, Loosely crumpled, Tight ball
MEASURE
how long the paper takes to fall, in seconds
KEEP THE SAME
- sheets of the same paper, all the same size
- dropping from the same height
- letting go without a push
- the same helper working the stopwatch
Scientists call the thing you change the independent variable and the thing you measure the dependent variable. The things you keep the same are the controls: if one of them changed too, you wouldn't know which change made the difference. Try each of the 4 levels 3 times.
What you need
- Paper: 4 sheets, all the same
- Masking tape, to mark lines
- A stopwatch or a kitchen timer
Steps
- Stand against a wall, reach up high, and stick masking tape where your hand is.
- Take four sheets of paper, all the same. Leave one flat.
- Fold one sheet again and again until it is a small square.
- Crumple one sheet loosely, and squeeze the last sheet into a tight ball.
- Hold the flat sheet with its bottom edge at the tape. Stand on the floor and never climb.
- Let go as a helper starts the stopwatch, and stop it when the paper lands.
- Write the time in your table, then drop it two more times.
- Do three drops with each of the other shapes, from the same tape mark.
- Find the middle number for each shape and draw a bar graph.
Every step is one you can do yourself, with a grown-up nearby. Write each number down straight away, in the table below, so nothing is lost.
Your results table
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
I changed: Paper shape I measured: how long the paper takes to fall (seconds)
| Paper shape | Try 1 (seconds) | Try 2 (seconds) | Try 3 (seconds) | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat sheet | ||||
| Folded small | ||||
| Loosely crumpled | ||||
| Tight ball |
MY GRAPH (a bar graph: paper shape along the bottom, seconds up the side)
What I noticed: ______________________________________________
From 4th grade, add the tries for each level and divide by how many there were: that's the mean, and it goes in the last column. Then draw a bar graph, one bar for each thing you tried.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
If I change the shape of the paper, then how long the paper takes to fall will ________________, because _____________________________________________
| I CHANGE | I MEASURE | I KEEP THE SAME |
|---|---|---|
| Paper shape: Flat sheet, Folded small, Loosely crumpled, Tight ball | how long the paper takes to fall (seconds) |
|
What I think will happen, in my own words:
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
My hypothesis was ☐ right ☐ partly right ☐ not right.
I know because my numbers show:
What surprised me, or what might have gone wrong (7th and up):
Next time I would test:
Idea: Change a second thing: crumple the paper tighter and tighter in four steps, and graph the fall time for each.
Why it works
Air pushes up on anything that falls. A flat sheet has a big face for the air to push on, so it floats down slowly and wobbles. Crumpling puts the same paper into a small ball with much less face in the air's way, so it falls faster.
Going further (7th and up): Change a second thing: crumple the paper tighter and tighter in four steps, and graph the fall time for each.
Board layout
- ❓ Question (10 × 8 in): Does crumpled paper fall faster than flat paper?
- 💭 Hypothesis (10 × 9 in): If I change the shape of the paper, then how long the paper takes to fall will ______, because ______.
- 🧺 Materials (10 × 12 in): 3 things: see your list.
- 🪜 Steps (22 × 9 in): 9 steps, three tries at each level.
- 📊 Results (22 × 16 in): Your table (Paper shape down the side, tries across) and your bar graph.
- ✅ Conclusion (10 × 14 in): My hypothesis was right / partly right / not right. I know because…
Materials to list: Paper; Masking tape, to mark lines; A stopwatch or a kitchen timer.
Bring photos or drawings of your test. Nothing wet, hot, powered or alive on the table.
This project at your grade
| 1st–3rd grade | Tries: three at each level (one is fine at a first fair). The table: levels and tries, numbers or pictures. The graph: a picture, or a simple bar graph. The conclusion: what happened, in their words. |
|---|---|
| 4th–6th grade | Tries: three at each level. The table: units in the header and a mean column. The graph: a bar graph, or a line for a number that grows. The conclusion: right, partly or not, and the numbers that show it. |
From 4th grade up, the table gets a mean column. See every project for 1st grade, or print a blank results table.
What a judge will ask
- What did you change, and what did you measure? I changed the shape of the paper and measured how long the paper takes to fall, in seconds.
- What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? I kept sheets of the same paper, all the same size and dropping from the same height the same, so the only difference was the shape of the paper.
- How many times did you test it? 3 times at each of my 4 levels.
- If you did it again, what would you change or test next? I'd crumple the paper tighter and tighter in four steps, and graph the fall time for each.
Make it yours
Keep this project on this device and Peabody counts down to your fair day, with a plan for each day. Nothing is sent anywhere.
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