The Human Snowflake
On February 8, 2006, 400 skydivers from 31 different countries jumped out of 5 giant airplanes over Thailand. They zoomed through the air at over 320 kilometres per hour! Once they were all out, they grabbed each other's arms and legs to form one massive, beautiful circle in the sky that looked like a giant human snowflake. They only had a few seconds to hold the shape before they had to let go and open their parachutes. It was the largest human formation ever made in freefall! Learn more!
Wee Ones
If a skydiver is falling through the air and their parachute is open above them, is the skydiver below or next to the parachute?
Little Kids
To build the formation, skydivers follow a sequence of steps: 1. Exit the plane, 2. Fly to your spot, 3. Grab hands. If a skydiver mixes up the steps and does 3 before 1, will the formation work?
Big Kids
Imagine the giant "snowflake" circle has a line of symmetry. If you fold the circle in half along that line, will the two sides match perfectly? How many different lines of symmetry can you find in a perfect circle?
The Sky's the Limit
A skydiver's parachute is a rectangle that is 8 metres long and 4 metres wide. What is the surface area of the parachute? If 400 skydivers all open their parachutes at the same time, what is the total surface area of all their parachutes combined?