Xia1

Richard Xia
Mrs. Stevens & Mrs. Bond
Physical Science
13 January 2016

What Size of Balloon Makes the Best Hovercraft?

What is a Hovercraft?

A hovercraft is a vehicle that could hover, it is pretty much like a vehicle, but most of them

could hover through water or cliffs. It can only hover a little on the air, a cushion of air on the

bottom is the part that keeps the hovercraft hovering. Air hockey table uses the same principal as a

hovercraft. The air hockey plate does not float alone. The table releases air so that the air hockey

plate can move smoothly.

How does an Air Hovercraft work?

The air powered hovercraft has a cushion of air on the bottom to keep the vehicle on the air.

The balloons under the hovercraft keeps most of the air inside(That's the real hovercraft). When the

pop-top cap is opened, air comes out and straight under the pop-top cap. By pushing the air under the

disc, it makes the entire hovercraft hover in the air. The hovercraft is even weighted and has a flat

bottom(hand made hovercraft)

What are air pressure and pressure area? And how does these things affect a

hovercraft?

An air pressure is like a tower of air that is one inch square. The tower of air goes from top to

bottom while its weight is 14.7. It means that the air pressure increases 14.7 pounds per square inch.

The air pressure is extremely high on any mountains and any tall places. The high and low air

pressure controls the height of a hovercraft, thats why the hovercraft need something to balance

things out.

What is friction?
 Xia1

Friction is surface resistance to relative motions, as an object sliding or rubbing against

another. Two things rubbing against each other causes friction.In humanwise, it means dissension or

conflict between persons, nation, because of different ideas, wishes Friction is like 2 pieces of metal

rubbing or banging against each other. It causes sparkles, the sparkles are caused by the friction that

occurred during the contact of the 2 metals.

What is thrust? And how does thrust affect a hovercraft?

Thrust is to push something or someone suddenly or violently in the specified direction.

Thrust is a sudden or violent lunge with a pointed weapon or a bodily part. Thrust is the mechanical

force an engine produced to control the aircraft. Thrust is used to overcome the drag of an airplane and to

overcome the weight of the rocket. Thrust is a vector quantity, having a magnitude and a direction.

Work Cited

Administrator. "Home." What Is a Hovercraft? Administra, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2016

"CD Balloon Hovercraft." Questacon. N.p., 23 June 2014. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

<https://www.questacon.edu.au/outreach/programs/science-circus/videos/cd-hovercraft>.

Chris, Woodford. "How Do Hovercraft Work?" Explain That Stuff. Woodford Chris, 21 Mar. 2016. Web.

29 Oct. 2016. <http://www.explainthatstuff.com/hovercraft.html>

Johnson, Paul F. "World Book Student | Article Page." World Book Student |

Article Page. Paul F Johnson, 28 Oct. 2016. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

Mifflin, Houghton. "The Definition of Friction." Dictionary.com. Houghton Mifflin, 20 May 2005. Web. 03

Nov. 2016. <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/friction?s=t>

 Xia1

"The Highs and Lows of Air Pressure." UCAR Center for Science Education. N.p., Jan.-Feb. 2010.

Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <http://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/highs-and-lows-air-pressure>.

Hall, Nancy. "What Is Thrust?" NASA. NASA, 5 May 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

<https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/thrust1.html>.