Do Veritasium's Helicopter Rope Experiment at Home | Science Project

What happens when you hang a rope from a helicopter that's flying forward at a constant velocity? This is an interesting physics question tested with a real helicopter in a recent video by Veritasium. Does the rope: A) hang straight down, B) hang straight diagonally like this, C) curve backward like this, D) curve downward like this, or E) make sort of an S shape like this? This question is from the 2014 qualifying exam for the US physics team, but the Veritasium video also examines what happens

if you add a weight or a parachute to the end of the rope. Now the Veritasium video does a great job explaining the physics behind the answers, but what if you'd like to do your own experiment and don't have access to a helicopter? Luckily, you can try this experiment at home with string. You'll need three strings of equal length. One with nothing attached, one with a large knot tied at one end - this adds a lot of mass but not a lot of surface area so it doesn't add much air resistance. The th

ird with a small piece of a plastic bag tied to the end. This adds a lot of surface area, so a lot of air resistance, but doesn't add much mass. To conduct the experiment, hold the top of the string and do your best to move it at a constant velocity. If the string is accelerating or changing direction, that will affect your results. Now it can be kind of hard to see what's happening, so let's take a closer look in slow motion. The plain string clearly forms a straight line. That's answer B from

the original question. For the full explanation here, check out the Veritasium video if you haven't already. When we add the knot, the extra weight at the end of the string causes it to curve downward. That's answer D from the original question. This one's a little harder to see, but if I pause the video, you can see the bend in the string here. Finally if we add the plastic bag, which acts like the parachute, we can see that the added air resistance causes a backward bend in the string. This is

answer C from the original question. Again if I pause the video, you can clearly see the bend here. So there you have it - three different scenarios, all demonstrated with the materials you have at home. No helicopter required. For more fun science experiments based on popular science shows and YouTube channels, like the Mythbusters phone book friction experiment or Mark Rober's glitter packages, check out the Science Buddies YouTube channel. For thousands of other fun, hands on science and eng

ineering projects, visit us online at www.sciencebuddies.org.