Hovercraft

      Even though I did not get to ride the hovercraft, the other students in my class said it was very fun, and it seemed to move faster while riding it compared to watching someone else ride it. Riding a hovercraft is different than riding a sled or skateboard because there is no surface friction acting upon the hovercraft, while there is friction acting on the sled or skateboard wheels.
      I learned a lot about inertia during this project, specifically when the hovercraft was gliding smoothly without any surface friction. I also learned a lot about net force, and that net force is the total force acting on an object. This was present in our demonstration when someone pushed and stopped the hovercraft, causing a force to act on it from one side. When the hovercraft was gliding with no friction, it was in equilibrium. I learned that equilibrium is when all the forces acting upon an object are balanced.
      Based on this lab, acceleration seems to depend on the power of the outside force, because the hovercraft will obviously move faster if it is pushed harder, and slower if pushed more softly.
      I would expect to have constant velocity in this lab because velocity is affected by friction in this demonstration, and since the hovercraft is not affected by surface friction, it will continue to glide until stopped by an outside force.
      Some members were harder to stop than others because there is a relationship between mass and velocity, in that the people with more mass will take longer/be harder to stop, and the people with less mass will be much easier to stop.