Round Parachutes Persuasive Essay
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Up Up and Away!
“If you could have any super power, what would it be?” I’m pretty sure all of my elementary, maybe even some middle school teachers have asked this. It’s a question that everyone has at some point in their life either been asked or have thought about it. The majority of the population would say they wished they could fly. This thought of being able to fly has been thought about throughout centuries. Think back to art class when you first learned about the Mona Lisa. Almost everyone knows about the Mona Lisa because it’s such a famous painting, painted by Leonardo Da V inci. He is the first recorded man to have created or thought up the idea of a parachute; although there has also been evidence that …show more content…
an “umbrella-like parachute” was utilized in the entertainment world of China back in the early twelfth century. The parachute made it possible to jump off high places and float gracefully to the ground. But Da Vinci has “independently engineered” the fundamentals of the parachute, that has inspired many other Europeans to create similar variations of the object. A picture was found of a free hanging man, grabbing onto a bar that stretched from one end of a frame to another end, which was attached to a wide piece of cloth known as the canopy. This parachute drawing was discovered in his manuscript, dating back to the 1470s; during the renaissance era. Da Vinci never got around to actually creating the object. The purpose of his invention was to make it possible to people to escape or jump off a burning building. After examining Da Vinci’s sketch, Fausto Veranzio was driven to create his own. Tweaking some of the dynamics of the sketch he kept the base form such as the square frame, but installed a new type of canopy, after discovering that a bulging sail-like piece of cloth would help decelerate the fall more efficiently. Through many centuries and decades the design of parachutes has evolved. To start off there are six different kinds of parachutes.
The Conical, considered to be the earliest type of parachute, the Pyramid, the one Leonardo had invented with the square bottom with the canopy creating a pyramid style parachute, the Round, which there are two types; non-steerable, moving in direction to the wind, and steerable which has large holes cut into the edges to make it easier to control and maneuver around. Round parachutes are unstable and known to have caused many deaths, so they are not used today. Square parachutes obtain a cross-shaped design preventing the parachute from swinging around. Skydivers are known to use these types of parachutes. Ram air parachutes are self-inflating, controlling direction and speed, making the ride down more flowey and less jerky. The sixth known parachute design is the Ribbon or Ring parachute; which is designed to control supersonic speeds that can lead to the canopy breaking. But out of all of the parachutes the two main types of parachutes are defined by the shape of their canopy; a ram-air canopy and a dome canopy. A dome canopy is a fabric canopy that can form either a hemisphere or cone. Then, “the canopy traps air inside its envelope,” creating a region of high pressure that delays movement in the opposite direction of entering airflow. Sport Jumpers are also more likely to use the ram-air canopy, also known as a rectangular parafoil. It’s made up of multiple tubular cells which act as a wing, “allowing the
jumper to fly.” The next most important part of the parachute is a harness. The canopy is attached to the harness by either a backpack or just below their bottom, so they can sit on it. There is a propelling device that releases the canopy into the air by what’s commonly known as a ripcord. Once the ripcord is pulled the container or backpack opens as a small pilot chute, which basically pulls the canopy out of the backpack. In order for the suspension lines to have enough time to straighten, a deployment device is needed. Most parachutes use fabric sleeves, which slows down the opening of the canopy, making it more gradual to keep from shock of the equipment and user. Through many years of improving the quality of parachutes, different materials have been tested out. Until the 1930’s the parachute has been made from Canvas, but later were built with silk. The silk provided a sturdier material and was more reliable. Today nylon is the main material they are made of because it’s stronger as well as a lot cheaper. The Parachute canopy is built in small patterns in various directions to add strength. The great impact of parachutes has helped our society through multiple ways. Some parachutes today are used in the military. The military uses them to drop off their soldiers onto the battlefield, so they don’t need to take time finding a landing strip. They’re also used to drop specific objects such as equipment and supplies, which take different, much larger parachutes, in order to insure of safe landing. NASA is another example for the importance of parachutes. They have equipped their shuttles for each mission in case of emergency landings back to earth. One of the most common uses for parachutes today, is through recreational activities, such as skydiving, or parasailing. Something many people don’t realize is that parachutes have been around for a very long time and have saved many lives as well as caused many deaths. There is a variety of styles, colors, and shapes that they can come in today. So the next time you go skydiving or are using a parachute, just think how many times people have changed the outline and pattern for the parachute that’s on your back.
Works Cited:
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Parachute." About.com Inventors. About.com, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
"Parachute." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"Parachutes – 10 Facts You Don 't Know about It." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
London, John. "Types of Parachutes." EHow. Demand Media, 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"Parachute." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"How Products Are Made." How Parachute Is Made. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Up Up and Away!
“If you could have any super power, what would it be?” I’m pretty sure all of my elementary, maybe even some middle school teachers have asked this. It’s a question that everyone has at some point in their life either been asked or have thought about it. The majority of the population would say they wished they could fly. This thought of being able to fly has been thought about throughout centuries. Think back to art class when you first learned about the Mona Lisa. Almost everyone knows about the Mona Lisa because it’s such a famous painting, painted by Leonardo Da V inci. He is the first recorded man to have created or thought up the idea of a parachute; although there has also been evidence that …show more content…
an “umbrella-like parachute” was utilized in the entertainment world of China back in the early twelfth century. The parachute made it possible to jump off high places and float gracefully to the ground. But Da Vinci has “independently engineered” the fundamentals of the parachute, that has inspired many other Europeans to create similar variations of the object. A picture was found of a free hanging man, grabbing onto a bar that stretched from one end of a frame to another end, which was attached to a wide piece of cloth known as the canopy. This parachute drawing was discovered in his manuscript, dating back to the 1470s; during the renaissance era. Da Vinci never got around to actually creating the object. The purpose of his invention was to make it possible to people to escape or jump off a burning building. After examining Da Vinci’s sketch, Fausto Veranzio was driven to create his own. Tweaking some of the dynamics of the sketch he kept the base form such as the square frame, but installed a new type of canopy, after discovering that a bulging sail-like piece of cloth would help decelerate the fall more efficiently. Through many centuries and decades the design of parachutes has evolved. To start off there are six different kinds of parachutes.
The Conical, considered to be the earliest type of parachute, the Pyramid, the one Leonardo had invented with the square bottom with the canopy creating a pyramid style parachute, the Round, which there are two types; non-steerable, moving in direction to the wind, and steerable which has large holes cut into the edges to make it easier to control and maneuver around. Round parachutes are unstable and known to have caused many deaths, so they are not used today. Square parachutes obtain a cross-shaped design preventing the parachute from swinging around. Skydivers are known to use these types of parachutes. Ram air parachutes are self-inflating, controlling direction and speed, making the ride down more flowey and less jerky. The sixth known parachute design is the Ribbon or Ring parachute; which is designed to control supersonic speeds that can lead to the canopy breaking. But out of all of the parachutes the two main types of parachutes are defined by the shape of their canopy; a ram-air canopy and a dome canopy. A dome canopy is a fabric canopy that can form either a hemisphere or cone. Then, “the canopy traps air inside its envelope,” creating a region of high pressure that delays movement in the opposite direction of entering airflow. Sport Jumpers are also more likely to use the ram-air canopy, also known as a rectangular parafoil. It’s made up of multiple tubular cells which act as a wing, “allowing the
jumper to fly.” The next most important part of the parachute is a harness. The canopy is attached to the harness by either a backpack or just below their bottom, so they can sit on it. There is a propelling device that releases the canopy into the air by what’s commonly known as a ripcord. Once the ripcord is pulled the container or backpack opens as a small pilot chute, which basically pulls the canopy out of the backpack. In order for the suspension lines to have enough time to straighten, a deployment device is needed. Most parachutes use fabric sleeves, which slows down the opening of the canopy, making it more gradual to keep from shock of the equipment and user. Through many years of improving the quality of parachutes, different materials have been tested out. Until the 1930’s the parachute has been made from Canvas, but later were built with silk. The silk provided a sturdier material and was more reliable. Today nylon is the main material they are made of because it’s stronger as well as a lot cheaper. The Parachute canopy is built in small patterns in various directions to add strength. The great impact of parachutes has helped our society through multiple ways. Some parachutes today are used in the military. The military uses them to drop off their soldiers onto the battlefield, so they don’t need to take time finding a landing strip. They’re also used to drop specific objects such as equipment and supplies, which take different, much larger parachutes, in order to insure of safe landing. NASA is another example for the importance of parachutes. They have equipped their shuttles for each mission in case of emergency landings back to earth. One of the most common uses for parachutes today, is through recreational activities, such as skydiving, or parasailing. Something many people don’t realize is that parachutes have been around for a very long time and have saved many lives as well as caused many deaths. There is a variety of styles, colors, and shapes that they can come in today. So the next time you go skydiving or are using a parachute, just think how many times people have changed the outline and pattern for the parachute that’s on your back.
Works Cited:
Bellis, Mary. "History of the Parachute." About.com Inventors. About.com, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
"Parachute." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"Parachutes – 10 Facts You Don 't Know about It." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
London, John. "Types of Parachutes." EHow. Demand Media, 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"Parachute." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"How Products Are Made." How Parachute Is Made. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.