Homemade Sciencewith Bruce Yeany

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Falling Cones: printable worksheets

Choose the sheet for the learner's age. Each prints on a single page. Build the project first, then fill it in together.

Ages 8-10: Predict, test & record
Name: ______________________Date: ____________

Homemade Science with Bruce Yeany · Falling Cones · Ages 8-10

Cone Drop Lab

Predict, drop, time and record: find out what makes a cone fall faster.

1. Predict first: two cones stacked together will fall...

◯ Faster than one cone◯ Slower than one cone◯ The same as one cone

2. Drop each stack from the same height three times. Write the times in seconds.

Cones stackedDrop 1Drop 2Drop 3Average

3. Which one fell the same way every time?

◯ The flat circle◯ The cone

4. What did you find out? Did more cones fall faster or slower? Were three cones three times as fast?

5. Why do you think a stack of cones falls faster than one cone? Think about gravity and the air.

6. Draw a cone falling. Add an arrow for gravity pulling and an arrow for the air pushing.

Ages 11-14: Explain & design your own test
Name: ______________________Date: ____________

Homemade Science with Bruce Yeany · Falling Cones · Ages 11-14

Falling Cones: Air Resistance Investigation

Use your cone data to explain terminal velocity and design your own fair test.

1. What is terminal velocity? Use the words gravity and air resistance in your answer.

2. Three stacked cones are three times as heavy as one cone. Explain why they fall faster, but not three times as fast.

3. Name the variables in the stacking test.

What I changedWhat I measuredWhat I kept the same

4. A big cone and a small cone are made from the same paper. Using 'What's going on?', predict the result.

◯ The big cone falls much faster◯ The small cone falls much faster◯ They fall at about the same speed

5. Design your own fair test. Pick a different variable (cone angle, size, color, spin flaps or paper type).

What I will changeWhat I will measureWhat I will keep the sameMy prediction

6. Where else do people or nature use air resistance to make something fall slowly or steadily?

Answer guide for grown-ups

Homemade Science with Bruce Yeany · Falling Cones · Answer guide

Answer guide

Ages 8-10: Cone Drop Lab

  1. Faster than one cone (but not twice as fast).
  2. Open answer: look for effort and careful observation.
  3. The cone.
  4. More cones fell faster (shorter times). Three cones were faster than one, but not three times as fast.
  5. A heavier stack is pulled harder by gravity, so it has to go faster before the air pushes back hard enough to stop it speeding up.
  6. Look for an arrow pointing down for gravity and an arrow pointing up for the air.

Ages 11-14: Falling Cones: Air Resistance Investigation

  1. The steady speed a falling object reaches when air resistance pushing up grows to equal gravity pulling down, so it stops speeding up.
  2. Gravity pulls three times as hard, but the shape and size stay the same. Air resistance grows faster than the speed does (roughly with speed squared), so the stack only needs to go a bit faster (about 1.7 times) for the air to balance its weight.
  3. Changed: the number of cones stacked (the mass). Measured: the fall time. Kept the same: cone shape and angle, paper type, drop height, the person timing.
  4. They fall at about the same speed: the big cone is heavier, but it also catches more air.
  5. Open answer: look for effort and careful observation.
  6. Examples: parachutes, skydivers spreading out, dandelion and maple seeds, a badminton shuttlecock, leaves, feathers.