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FD = Cd A v2
Where FD is the drag force (Greek letter "rho") is the density of air = 1.22 kg/m3 Cd is the drag coefficient A is the area of the chute v is the velocity through the air Meanwhile, the weight of the rocket, otherwise known as the force of gravity (FG), is computed to be
FG = m g
Where m is the mass of the rocket g is the acceleration of gravity = 9.81 m/s2 Let's find when they're equal: FG = FD m g = Cd A v2 ...and solving for chute area... A = (2 m g) / ( Cd v2) Now the chute area, in terms of the chute diameter, is A = D2 / 4, so the chute diameter is D = sqrt(4 A / ).
The Answer
Combining the two equations above for A & D leads us to the final form of the chute equation as we will use it:
D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) )
Where
m is the rocket mass in kilograms g is the acceleration of gravity = 9.8 m/s2 is 3.14159265359 is the density of air = 1.22 kg/m3 Cd is the drag coefficient of the chute, which is 0.75 for a parasheet (flat sheet used for a parachute, like Estes rockets), or 1.5 for a parachute (true dome-shaped chute). v is the speed we want at impact with the ground (3 m/s or less)
Some Examples
Model Rocket Let's size a parachute for an Estes Big Bertha.
m = 62.3 g = 0.0623 kg (from the Estes catalog) Cd = 0.75 (since this is a parasheet) the rest of the variables are as above, so...
D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) ) = sqrt( (8*0.0623*9.81) / (3.14*1.22*0.75*32) ) = 0.435 m ...which is equal to 17 inches. This explains why the Big Bertha comes with an 18 inch chute. High-Power Rocket We'll size a parachute for my LOC V2, which weighs in at 8 pounds even, or 3.6 kg.
m = 3.6 kg due to all the extra stuff I've added Cd = 1.5 because the rocket uses a true domed parachute v = 5 m/s I'm increasing v because this rocket's going pretty high and I don't
want it to take forever to come down. This is the equivalent to a four-foot drop (ouch).
D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) ) = sqrt( (8*3.6*9.81) / (3.14*1.22*1.5*52) ) = 1.4 m ...which is a 4 foot 8 inch parachute. Pretty big. In reality I'm using a RocketMan R7C, which is about that size.
Note that we can easily find the descent velocity, given the chute diameter, by simply rearranging the above equation to get
v = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd D2) )