What did we do?

A hovercraft works best by creating a cushion of air with enough pressure to support the weight of the craft and a passenger. A fan blows air underneath the hovercraft platform, and air is trapped between the platform and the ground by a piece of material called the skirt. A small amount of air leaks out from under the skirt, creating the cushion of air. To try to improve our hovercraft's performance, we tried two skirt designs: one was loose and baggy, one was tight. We fired up each hovercraft over a pile of glitter to see how the leaking air scattered it around. We put each craft through a speed course and an obstacle course to see how they performed.

Click here to see a plan for making a hovercraft like ours!

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