Building a parachute, its not working, over a fan, how does i maek it are work?

Question

I was bored, sitting here on a Saturday night, and i decided to place my hand over this small fan i have here on my desk. It did not satisfy me, so i placed a sheet of paper over it. To my surprise, it hovered for a fraction of a second before fluttering away, to my annoyance, into a dusty corner of my room. Therefore, i decided, using some sewing string, a needle, and tape (to hold the string to the needle [SO much less work]) to create a parachute out of the paper with which id tie over the fan on the little rungs so that said parachute would float and i could enjoy many lulz. Unfortunately, it failed and landed, with a sad plop, on my desk. I do not fully understand why this is so. Not all the strings are exactly the same length, and i am using a rectangular sheet of normal printing paper. The fan is strong enough to hold everything in the air; everything just seems to shift to some random direction and lose the lift of the fan. Explanation and ways to fix/re-create my parachute.

Answer 1

The problem you are having is one of stability. Even though the parachute can reach an equalibrium point above the fan, any slight displacement from equilibrium grows rapidly until the 'chute falls away. There are stable updraft-supported configurations, though. Set a reversible vacuum cleaner's hose to blow staight up, and put a ping-pong ball over the air stream.

Or take A1's advice - stop being curious and become a useful idiot.

Answer 2

Seems like you are real bored....maybe doing a good deed for someone you love would be time better spent.....