About This Lesson
Balloon Aerodynamics Challenge 1 and 2 allows students to think and act like scientists and engineers as they follow the eight steps of the Design Process to successfully complete and team challenge. In the Explore section, students design, measure, build, test and re-design a neutrally buoyant helium balloon. In the Explain section, students demonstrate how different forces affect motion. In the Extend section, students apply what they have learned about balloons and density to design a series of balloons that float at different heights. Advanced classes or students also attach sensors to the balloons to gather environmental data. Students compare what they observe with a Teaching From Space NASA eClips(TM) video segment to learn more about forces and motion in a near zero gravity environment and how these forces act similarly or differently than they do in Earth's gravity
