Home Made Hovercraft Experiment

By Abigail Despoy10/5/11

Question

• Could I construct a working hovercraft and test which hole configuration would work best?

Hypothesis

• My hypothesis was that the larger holes in a hovercraft would make the hovercraft go higher and run smoother.

Variables

• Independent – Use of 2 inch and 3 inch holes in the inflatable base of the hovercraft.

• Controlled – The leaf blower and size of the wooden base remained the same throughout the experiment.

Materials

• 2x4ft sheet of ¾ inch plywood• Leaf blower• Tarp• Duct tape• Screws• Bolt• Straps• 2 inch piece of Round plywood

Tools• Table Saw• Jig Saw• Drill• Pencil and string• Nail (To attach string to draw circle)• Tape measure• Ruler• Hole saw• Utility knife

Safety Rules• Always wear eye protection in Lab. • Always have adult supervision in the lab.

• I always wore eye protection when working on this project.• My Mom watched and supervised the entire lab and helped

build the hovercraft and my dad helped cut the plywood.

Procedure• I started with a plywood base 2 ft x 4 ft and

then drew a ½ circle with a 1 foot radius on both ends using a pencil and string.

Line

Procedure• I cut the ½ circles using a jig saw and used a

drill and hole saw to cut a hole for the leaf blower.

Procedure• I then cut and attached the tarp to the

plywood with screws and duct tape.

Procedure

• I then had to drill a hole and attach the center plug with a bolt.

Procedure• I then cut holes in the bottom with a utility knife and attached

the leaf blower with straps and duct tape. We started with smaller holes, and then went to larger holes for this experiment to compare which holes worked best.

3 inch holes shown

Testing• And now for the fun part. We tested the

hovercraft.

Click for Video

Testing• It even worked on my Dad.

Click for Video

Data

• Hovercraft with 2 inch holes went 3 ½ inches off the ground.

• Hovercraft with 3 inch holes went 2 ½ inches off the ground.

• Smaller holes propelled this hovercraft better than larger holes.

Data

Hovercraft floating Height

2 Inch holes 3 inch holes0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Hovercraft Floating HeightHe

ight

in In

ches

ConclusionIn conclusion, my hypothesis stated that the larger air holes would make the hovercraft go higher and run smoother. My hypothesis was incorrect. According to the data, the hovercraft with the smaller holes had a higher lift and ran smoother. Possible problems that may have occurred with this lab include leakage in duct tape and holes developing in the tarp. Solutions included adding more duct tape to seal leaks and taping holes.

The End

Click for closing Video