Hovercraft
Introduction: A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is a craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud or ice and other surfaces both at speed and when stationary. Hovercraft are hybrid vessels operated by a pilot as an aircraft rather than a captain as a marine vessel. The first practical design for hovercraft derived from a British invention in the 1950s to 1960s. Hovercrafts are used for patrolling public lakes/ponds and also used for racing. Hovercrafts are an easy alternative to use compared to a snowmobile with ice is thin, and an ATV when mud is too deep. Hovercrafts are a very useful object. The hovercraft creates vents or currents of slow-moving, low-pressure air that are pushed downward against the surface below the hovercraft. Modern ACVs often have propellers on top that create the air currents. These currents are pushed beneath the vehicle with the use of fans. Surrounding the base of the ACV is a flexible skirt, also called the curtain, which traps the air currents, keeping them underneath the hovercraft. These trapped air currents can create an air cushion on any surface, land or water
Purpose: To test efficiency of a hovercraft on smooth surfaces compared to rough surfaces by testing how much weight the hovercraft can hold while moving at each surface. Explain the differences.
Hypothesis: We believe that the hovercraft will work more efficiently on a smooth surface compared to a rough surface because of the air cushion being easier to work on a flat surface. Since the air currents below the skirt of the hovercraft are shared equally through all 6 holes created on our hovercraft, on a flat surface, the hovercraft will work perfectly fine, as apposed to a rough surface, where the even air flow will be interrupted, causing in a loss of efficiency and ability to do work.
Materials: (to create the hovercraft): • Plywood (3x3) • A Staple Gun • 2 inch bolt, and a nut that fits that bolt. • 2 Washers
Purpose: To test efficiency of a hovercraft on smooth surfaces compared to rough surfaces by testing how much weight the hovercraft can hold while moving at each surface. Explain the differences.
Hypothesis: We believe that the hovercraft will work more efficiently on a smooth surface compared to a rough surface because of the air cushion being easier to work on a flat surface. Since the air currents below the skirt of the hovercraft are shared equally through all 6 holes created on our hovercraft, on a flat surface, the hovercraft will work perfectly fine, as apposed to a rough surface, where the even air flow will be interrupted, causing in a loss of efficiency and ability to do work.
Materials: (to create the hovercraft): • Plywood (3x3) • A Staple Gun • 2 inch bolt, and a nut that fits that bolt. • 2 Washers
Bibliography: Science buddies. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Aero_p033.shtml Wikipedia. (2012, April 07). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft Scottswank, K. (n.d.). Youtube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEDbYQE_jgA