Flying Pigs Lab

I use flying pigs. You can use whatever flying toy you find...airplanes, helicopters and even bats with red blinking eyes!

This lab could be used as an assessment for Uniform Circular Motion.

Materials Avaliable:

• Flying Pig (or other flying toy)
• Meter stick

What to Find:

• How long does it take for the pig to fly 30 revolutions?

Restrictions and Requirements:

• You may not run the pig after the initial run.
• Draw a force diagram for the pig.
• Write "sums of forces" equations.
• Show all of the work to obtain your final answer and use words to justify your approach and solution.

Follow up questions:

• If you took this set-up to the moon (gravitational acceleration is about 1/6 of the Earth's g), would the pig have the same period as you have found? If yes, how do you know, and if no, give the new period and also tell me how you know.
• As the batteries wear out, what would you expect to happen to the speed, flight radius and period? Support your answer mathematically and with words. (How do you know?)