COOL PHYSICS

Measuring the fall rate of parachutists

The acceleration or deceleration sustained by a parachute-passenger system is measured with solid state accelerometers. These devices are based on small piezoelectric chips that bend under acceleration and send varying current when a voltage is applied at their terminals. Typically, there is one accelerometer per axis of motion (i.e. one for the X-, Y- and Z- axes). The data is then piped to a data acquisition system. Such a measurement is commonly performed by Dr. Potvin and his SLU-physics undergraduate assistants. For more information on their parachute studies click here. More info on the data acquisition system can be found here and here.

Physics Home

More Cool Physics Topics