A Life Above Ground By: Jacob Fox December 11, 2013

My Question The question that is guiding my project is “Will the size of the hovercraft effect how high, far and long it hovers?”

Background I chose this topic because I love to build and construct things. I also love to work with wood and build all kinds of projects. Also,I like to be challenged and making two hovercrafts that hover won’t be easy. I think that this project will be cool to see if the boards can really hover. That is why I picked this topic.

Hypothesis If the 48 inch round disk is used to make a hovercraft, then it will hover higher, farther and longer than the 42 inch hovercraft.

Variables Independent-Size of wood (48 inches and 42 inches) Dependent- Which hovercraft will hover higher, longer and farther above the ground. Constant- Type of materials (wood), same leafblower, same surface, same weight, same plastic.

Procedures 1. Gather materials. 2. Set up cutting table and get saw and glasses. 3. Put wood on table and cut a 48 inch circle. 4. Cut a little hole in the middle for the leaf blower. 5. Put plastic on wood. 6. Put leaf blower in hole and record how high,far, and long it hovers. 7. Repeat steps 2-5, but cut a 42 inch circle instead of a 48 inch circle. 8. Record on poster board. 9. Present.

My Hovercraft (48 inch) h

Conclusion While a person is riding on a hoverboard, will height, time and distance the board hovers be affected by the size of the board? My experiment included the making of two hoverboards. A 48 inch diameter and a 42 inch diameter hoverboard were the sizes used in this experiment.

Conclusion Once the boards were created, I climbed on the board and used a leaf blower to pump air into the hoverboard to cause it to hover. Once hovering, the height of each board was recorded in inches. The amount of time the boards hovered was also recorded in seconds. The distance both boards hovered was measured in feet as well.

Conclusion My data shows that the 48 inch hoverboard will hover 36 seconds longer, 10 feet farther, and 2.5 inches higher in comparison to the 42 inch hoverboard. My hypothesis was proven correct by my experiment in stating that a 48 inch hoverboard will hover higher, longer and farther.

Conclusion From this experiment, I learned that a hoverboard with a larger diameter will hover longer, further and higher because it distributes my weight more evenly allowing the board to stay level. I also learned that a larger diameter board has a larger skirt underneath thus allowing more air for the hovercraft to hover with greater ease.

Conclusion The flaw in my experiment was the palstic that was used. The plastic I used was too thin and would pop or tear if the air from the blower went in too fast. So the next time I would use a thicker plastic such as a shower curtain to prevent it from tearing and popping so easily.

48 inch Hovercraft

42 inch Hovercraft