final blog post

This whole project has been a great learning experience for us and has begun to further our understanding of  the practical applications of physics in everyday life. From the beginning- when we were given the basic ideas of how to make the rocket and being scared to even launch them, to now having made two separate rockets and launching countless times, we have gained quite a bit of knowledge and have a changed mindset when it comes to physics. It was hard work making those rockets and when our first one landed on midkiff potentially ending our experience right there, we were only motivated even more to succeed in creating the best rocket we could. So we made another with a simpler design and launched it three times on Friday. The first two launches went very high giving us times of around 7 seconds even though our parachute didnt deploy. We were launching our rockets with constant variables. For every launch, we used approximately 750 mL of water while pumping air at a pressure of around 60-80 psi. Having only a few minutes remaining in class for us to succeed, we swapped our nose cone out for a smaller one, one that we knew would come off. This was a success since our parachute deployed and allowed our rocket to gracefully descend to the ground. This amazing final launch gave us the class record of over 16 seconds of air time. We were quite lucky and grateful to have been given the extra day to recreate our rocket and would not have been able to get as good a result without that extra time.

Blog 7

Last class was judgement day. It was time to shine and show everybody how great our rocket was. Kenny had just constructed a much larger parachute, ready to keep our rocket floating for decades. We were eager to smash the other class's time because of the new adjustments Kenny had added to the rocket the night before. I was pretty certain we would easily reach that 10 second mark, but when it came down to it, our parachute didn't deploy. I was really disappointed, but still pretty amazed at the altitude our rocket was able to achieve. Even without the parachute, we were able to  have an air time of over 7 seconds. I was really disappointed, especially when our rocket got stuck on Midkiff because I really wanted to get that extra bonus points.

Blog 5

Today in Physics class, we went outside to Konia to launch our rockets again. We had only made one additional modification to our rocket from last time. We had trimmed the flat surface of the nose cone to make it slightly more aerodynamic. Today me and my partner was expecting our rocket to get around the same time, but to our surprise our time was about 2 seconds less. Our rocket fell much faster than last time, and we suspect it was due to the wind. However, we did make the 5 second time and received credit. We plan to construct better fins that are more stable, as our current fins are flimsy and aren't as effective as they should be.

para.... para... parachute

for our launch on friday we had to get at least 3 seconds with the assistance of a parachute. you could say we did that....plus five extra!! we had an amazing launch with a perfect looking parachute which our friend helped us make and the addition of a nose cone. the nose cone made our rocket much more aerodynamic allowing it to gain much more hight off of the launch. the parachute which deployed shortly after the rocket reached its highest point slowed the decent of the rocket allowing it to glide gently to the ground with a time of 8 seconds in the air. we plan to remake our fins with a stiffer material to hopefully increase our time even more.

Blogpost #3

today we had our second real day of rocketeering, we were required to have two launches,one with just a stock soda bottle and then another with some modifiers and to record our results. we had a very short time for unmodified time of about 3 seconds. we added four fins to try and prevent our rocket from wobbling through the air. we also added a very simple type of nose cone. this also acted as a way for our rocket to be elongated slightly so that it would also be more stable. the nose cone made the rocket much more aerodynamic so that it would cut through the air faster giving it more time before it hit the ground. at the end of the day (figuratively speaking of course, it was only one period) our adjustments bought us an additional 1 second of air time for our rocket, not bad for first adjust ments!!

Blog 2

Last class, we all went outside to Konia field to practice launching our water bottle rockets. They weren't exactly rockets, because everybody still had the basic 2L soda bottle, unmodified. We did this to get used to launching, and to prepare us for future launches so we know what to do. We filled our bottles with 500 mL of water (for now) and set it up on the launch pads after Mr. Blake showed us what to do. After setting it up, we pumped air into the bottle to create pressure that would propel our rocket in the air. This would work according to Newton's 3rd law of motion: For every action, theres an equal and opposite reaction. As the pressurized air would exit the bottle upon launching, the bottle would propel in the opposite direction. It would also continue to travel after all the water has left due to inertia.

Blog 1

Last week we were introduced to the water bottle rocket project. For our project, we plan on extending the bottle of our rocket to have a long body. We also plan to include a nose cone to drastically improve its aerodynamics. We also plan to include 3 or 4 fins to stabilize our rocket so it will fly in a straight path. Mr. Blake told us that we have to have a good amount of mass at the top of our rocket so our rocket is not bottom-heavy. To do this, we found were thinking about using a water balloon. This water balloon would have a dual purpose: to increase the mass of the top of our rocket, and to act as a deployment system to pop off the nose cone and allow the parachute to deploy. We are still brainstorming on ideas, and none of these ideas are set in stone.