How Does a Parachute Work?

Ever wondered why do people not fall down when they use a parachute up in the air? Well, here’s how it stops someone or something from falling down.

The parachute creates a drag that slows down someone or something from falling down. Drag is the push on something from the air or water. As air is much thinner than water it doesn’t have as much drag. The larger is the surface area, the more is the drag.

The parachute is very light in weight and has a very big surface area. It catches lots of air in it as it falls down thereby creating so much of drag.

It works on the concept of ‘Whatever is thrown up always falls down’. Law of gravity states the force that comes from the center of the earth attracts everything to the earth. In fact, this is the very reason why we are able to walk on the earth. Parachute is one of those objects that follow this law of gravity. These were initially designed with an intention to save people in emergency situations when they needed to exit off a plane that is not functioning properly.

Parachutes have the air resistance, which prevents people from falling down. The fall of an object depends upon the weight it bears. The lighter it is, the quicker it reaches the ground. The air carries the atoms and molecules that these objects push their way through in order to get to their destination. The rocks, being relatively heavier than the other objects, can push the air molecules out of their way. But objects as light as feathers find it difficult to pass their way through these air molecules.

Since in case of humans, the parachute gathers in a lots of air molecules as it carries the person along, it manages to hold the person for longer time.

Origins of Parachute

It was in late 1400s that Leonardo da Vinci suggested the idea of parachute Leonardo da Vinci simulated the idea with a cloth-covered wooden frame in the shape of a pyramid and had the man hanging underneath.

Fauste Veranzio followed him up by making a similar device and jumped from a tower in Venice in 1617.

Then was the time when the first real parachute was invented in the 1780s - over 300 years ago. It was in 1785 when Jean Pierre Blanchard made an emergency use of it. He also worked on a foldable silk parachute until when all parachutes were constructed with a rigid frame. Then again in 1797, Andrew Garnerin made the first jump with a parachute without a rigid frame. He once went onto jump from the height of 8000 feet, a very high altitude for the time, which was observed by a French astronomer, Lalandes.

In 1911, Captain Albert Berry jumped off an airplane accompanied by Grant Morton. The parachute he used was as big as 36 feet, packed into a metal case beneath the fuselage. They never looked back from there.

Parachutes are since used to slow down the fall of people and things.