Final Blog: 3.11.11

Transforming from a naked two liter bottle to one with fins, a parachute, and a nosecone, our rocket proved its self to be very successful over the course of five launch days. On the first launch day, our bottle did not go into at all. Instead it launched parallel to the ground. In fact, during our first launch day, our bottle preferred to launch itself toward people like Mr. Blake and Kamaha'o. Then, we used sticks to guide our rocket. After using the sticks, our rocket launched straight up stayed up in the air for about four seconds. On the second launch day we added a nose cone, made out of manila folder, and part of a second bottle in order to create a longer body. When we launched the rocket, it stayed in the air for about five seconds.On day three, we added cardboard fins, a parachute made from a longs bag, molding clay, and a nosecone made from the top portion of our second bottle. The weight from the modeling clay was so great that it made the rocket come down before our parachute could fully deploy. By the time the parachute deployed, it could not create enough air resistance to hold the whole rocket in the air. Therefore, because of the heavy clay, our rocket was not able to stay in the air for a long time. On day four, we added new fins, a paper nosecone, and a bigger parachute. After three failed attempts, our parachute deployed while a gust of wind came and caused our rocket to say in the air for more than five seconds. If it wasn't for the wind, we would have not gotten credit for that day. On the final launch day, we added another nosecone made from the top of a 2 liter bottle. When we launched our rocket the fist time, it stayed in the air for three seconds. This was because our parachute opened but there wasn't enough air to create resistance. On the second launch, we timed it with the wind and the parachute deployed and the wind allowed our parachute to stay in the air for 11 seconds. During the last launch, our modifications worked out perfectly.

Day 5: March 9, 2011

Who knew that a force that can't be seen mean so much to our success? Whether it was God, the wind, or both, something happened again for the second day that helped us to reach our goal of ten seconds. We started the day hopeful that we would have the same success as yesterday. Our first launch could not even be classified as a launch. It did not get very far off the ground because the liquid started to spurt out of the rocket before we launched it. It had a nice parabolic shape though. Our second launch, like those of previous days, was a little over 3s. Our parachute did not deploy at all and the rocket did not go high. Our third and final launch was 11.8s :) Once again it was a lot of things helping us at the same time. Our cone stayed for the right amount of time and then our parachute opened up just as the gust of wind came. The cone, wind, and parachute were all important elements that lead to our successful and final launching. Our rocket was laid to rest on March 9, 2011 and now resides in the trashcan in Mr. Blake's room. He wanted to end his life on a high note of reaching 11.8s. RIP physicspluckers rocket! WE LOVE YOU AND WILL FOREVER BE INDEBTED TO YOU.

Day 4: March 7, 2011

With the difficulties of day three behind us and the help of a little wind and prayer, you could say we did pretty good. As ten minuets dropped to two, our hope dissipated as each launch failed. Our first launch stayed in the air for 3.62 seconds, followed with a launch of 3.94 seconds, and succeed with a 2.93 second launch. As time kept running away, we gave up hope. With two minuets left to launch, we quickly filled up our bottle and started pumping air into the rocket. When we pulled the string, it was truly an act of God. The cone fell of and our parachute deployed. The wind blew the parachute father and farther up. Just when we thought it was going to fall down, another gust of wind came. That happened three different times. Our total time was 17.83S. Our modifications that we made to the rocket were a new cone, a larger parachute, and a different material for our fins. We made our cone out of laminated hard stock. We used a garbage bag instead of grocery bag. We also made our fins out of a folder. We need to find a different way to attach our cone to our bottle. We could change our fins to add more drag.

03.03.11 Third Launch Day

You know the quote from the movie National Treasure, where Nicholas Cage is talking about Thomas Edison. He said "Thomas Edison was successful. He found a million ways how not to make a light bulb". That is how I would judge our success today. We found out what not to do with the bottle rocket. The goal today was to have the rocket last more than 3s in the air and to have a parachute. Regarding our goals today, We met them. We also changed our cone and added a center of mass. We attempted to make fins our of cardboard but, unfortunately, they fell off. When we launched the clay that we added to make the center mass, was way to heavy and our rocket fell down quickly due to the greater gravitational force. Our parachute did not have a large enough surface area for the mass of our rocket. We took some clay off for our second launch and it helped a little. Our first launch was three seconds while our second launch was four seconds. We are going to change our parachute, add fins, and take all clay off. Hopefully it will work way better then today :)

03.01.2011 Launch Day 2

Today’s rocket launch was MUCH better then yesterday being that there were no casualties (Sorry Mr. Blake). The bottle also launched straight in the air, which didn’t happen until the third time yesterday. The three green sticks, as seen in our video, really helped with making the rocket fly straight up. If you are having trouble with that, I suggest the green sticks. The modifications that we made to our water bottle rocket made the rocket fly in the air longer. We added another bottle to the body of rocket to increase the stability of the rocket while in flight. We also added a cone to the top of the rocket for aerodynamics and weight. As you can see in our video, our bottle rocket flew straighter and went higher. We think fins will make our rocket have more air time. We also need to add a parachute and mass weight to increase the flight time and the stability of the rocket while in air.

02.28.11 First Launch

Today we had a chance to launch our 2 liter bottle. This bottle had no modifications. As you can see in the video, our bottle did not blast straight up. The first time we tested it, it shot at Mr. Blake. The second time we tested it, it shot at Christina. The third time we tested it, it shot at our Co-ed director, Kama. Our best and final launch for the day can be seen in the video. Although it did not blast straight up into the air, it did launch up instead of sidewards, but ended up curving while in the air. The reason for our rocket launching sidewards is because of the placement of the holder, which we placed into the grass. Since the holed was not straight enough, the bottle did not go straight up. When we used the sticks to guide the rocket, it finally launched straight up into the air. Here lies our error. Tomorrow, we plan on modifying our rocket and testing it until it stays up into the air for at least 10 seconds. Stay connected to our blog to see more videos about our experiment.

Online Resource

http://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/1092/1/waterrocketconstruction.pdf

This pdf gives you different methods that you can apply to your soda-bottle rocket. It breaks down the different parts of the rocket and how they are constructed. It sums up the rocket between three parts: the body, the nose cone, the fins, and the parachute. It also gives you hints on how to modify the rocket according to how you want to rocket to fly. An example is in the fins. If you want the rocket to fly straighter, you have to make the fins long. It also gives the reasoning behind each method, which helps the students learn the physics part. Hopes this helps whoever reads this. I liked this site because it also gives pics. which are really helpful in making your rocket. Follow the post and head off to the pdf to get started on building your very own soda bottle rocket!!! :)