Rocket Reflection
The Rocket exhibition was a great learning experience. I was able to observe different models and designs of rockets. I saw some designs that made the rockets go higher and I saw which designs assured the parachute to deploy it all depended on the design of the rocket if it was a success or a fail. The exhibition was very surprising to me. I didn't think so many rockets would end up succeeding. I also learned about setting up a launch pad for a rocket this was useful information so I was able to understand the launching.
Catherine and I went with an arrow dynamic design for our rocket. Tyrone had a long tube that connected off of his two liter chamber. We attached three small fins to the chamber, we decided this because we thought that three fins would evenly distribute around the chamber. We also had a nose with a parachute stuffed under it. Our hopes were that the nose cone would come off and the parachute would deploy, but it failed to come off. If I could change anything I would make sure that our fins were completely stable and attached before launching. I would also change the parachute and nose cone situation to make a successful deploy. The last thing I would change would be to have a sturdier tube connected instead of a card board tube. Some things that went well where our chamber was sturdy and had no holes or malfunctions this assured that Tyrone had a powerful engine to power the launch. A successful design I saw was on Dylan and Al's they had an arrow dynamic rocket that was very stable as well. There rocket was able to reach increasingly high limits but wasn't able to release the parachute. I think that if the parachute would have deployed I think they would have had the most successful rocket. Therefore I think they had the best rocket. Overall I had never really had a project like this in the past. It was a great way for me to learn how to construct, launch, and evaluate rocket launching. I learned through the process of building about sanding, melting plastic together, gluing properly, and making fins. Through launching I learned how to set up a launch pad and to prepare your rocket to launch. At exhibition I learned about all the different routes that students took on their rockets. I am looking forward to finding more about the calculations and to dig further in to the rocket project. |
The Science Behind the rocket
There are many things that come in to play with Newton's first law in a rocket launch. When the rocket is launched it will continue to fly in a straight line unless another force acts upon it. In our case, Tyrone was affected by both gravity and wind. The wind threw Tyrone off of the straight path he was suppose to be on. Another thing that could have acted upon Tyrone was his fins. The fins on our rocket could have thrown him off the straight line he was suppose to be on. The gravity was the force that slowed our rocket down and eventually pulled it to a stop and allowed Tyrone to fall back down to earth.
Our rocket Tyrone was remarkably light for the size it was. His mass was a lot less than most rockets meaning he was able to launch off the pad at a very quick speed. Heavier rockets like Dylan and Al's took an increasingly longer amount of time to launch from the pad, in other words the heavier rockets tend to hover around the pad for a while before execrating. The lighter the rocket the faster it execrates off the pad and in to the air. In our case our rocket was able to come off the pad very quickly but only stay flying for a short period of time. Newton's third applies to our rocket because of it's fins have equal balance on each side. On our rocket we decided to stick with three fins for lighter weight and to keep them equal in strength and opposite in direction. This set up Tyrone for a straight easy flight. If the third law was not implied it would be easy to say that he would not have had a very successful flight through the air. |