Schlumberger
 

Adventures In Skydiving

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"Skydiving is exhilarating ... you merely feel the pressure of the air against your body ... then the parachute opens."
  -
Philippe Theys

"Was it the most exciting event of my life? I can answer 'yes' that was the case for me."
  -
Alexandre Baubert

Free Fall

"I felt completely relaxed, listening to the wind and feeling like a bird."
  -
Risa Centenni

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jump out of an airplane?"
  -
Miguel Garcia

 

The Guinness Book of World Records cites skydiving as providing the highest speed to an individual in a non-mechanical sport. The idea of skydiving is not new. Leonardo da Vinci thought about parachuting and left a few drawings about it to show how such a device might work. In France during the 18th Century Sébastien Lenormand, J. P Blanchard and André Jacques Garnerin became serious about falling from heights and made experimental jumps from hot air balloons. During World War I, parachutes operated with a "static line," a cord attached to the plane and to the chute which caused the chute to open automatically. These were widely used to evacuate planes that had been damaged.

 

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Adventures in Skydiving
Methods & Equipment  
Emergencies  
Gravity and Drag
Digging Deeper
Philippe  
Risa
Alexandre  
Miguel
Related Links  
Related Projects 
Teacher's Notes | Make a Parachute
Teacher's Notes | Air Resistance
 
 

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