Introduction:
For the past few weeks, I have been working on a rocket project in math and physics. Our objective during the project was to build a water bottle rocket that would go as high as possible using math such as quadratics and our knowledge of the laws of physics and free body diagrams.
The first part of the engineering and design process (EDP) is to ask a Question. Our question was how to make a water bottle rocket that goes as high as possible and can fall back down to the ground in a slow and controlled manner. The next part of the EDP is to Research. We researched bottle rockets on http://www.aircommandrockets.com/. This step was important because it taught me how to build a water bottle rocket and how it works. Step three of the EDP is to Imagine a Solution to the problem; this is when we made small smart water bottle rocket prototypes. We also created blueprints that 11th graders critiqued. The fourth step of the EDP is to make a Plan. For this step, I revised my blueprint and made a timeline for what I needed to get done on the rocket to have it ready by the first test launch. Step five of the EDP is Create; we built our rocket for this step. We 3D printed a mono fin out of carbon nylon, made a parachute out of a trash bag, and made the pressure chamber out of Soda bottles. We spliced the soda bottles together to build a bigger pressure chamber. The sixth step of the EDP process was to Test. For this step, we filled our rocket about 1/3 up with water and launched it.
The rocket was extremely unstable and in flight, and the parachute deployed too early, and the parachute did not slow the rocket down enough. These were important observations because fixing this problem led to the final step, Improve. To improve our rocket, we moved our 3D-printed monofin further up the fuselage and added three laser-cut elliptical fins onto the monofin. Then, we created a better nose cone and a massive parachute. We use the EDP because it is a structured and systematic way of answering questions and doing Experiments. We followed these steps to answer the question of how to make a water bottle rocket go as high as possible and fall back down to the Earth safely.
Mathematics:
We use quadratics to describe a Rocket's flight because it is a method for accurately showing where the rocket was at different stages. A quadratic is a function with x squared. We need this because it makes a curve and matches the rocket flight. For example, if you want to see the rocket's apogee, you can see where the highest point is on the quadratic height time graph and at what time the missile gets there. The position is a point, the rocket's height given time. Velocity is the slope of the curve given a point. Acceleration is the change in velocity or the change in slope, and it can be seen as the curve itself. Linear motion velocity is how fast you are moving in a direction. Acceleration is when you change velocity or Direction. Free Fall is when an object falls to the Earth, and gravity is the primary Force acting on the object; the other Force is drag once the object enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Physics:
Newton's first law: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Because all matter has inertia, an object will keep traveling in a straight line until a gravitational pull or external Force acts on it.
Newton's second law: Force equals mass times acceleration. We measure Force in Newtons. Which is kilograms multiplied by meters divided by seconds squared. Friction is when an object rubs up against another object. Drag is when an object rubs up against air or water. Mass is how much matter something has. Weight is how much gravity is acting on an object.
Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object is lying on the ground on Earth, gravity is pulling down on the object, and Normal Force is pushing up on the object, which balances the Forces and makes the velocity zero. We can use systems to decompose the forces of objects doing various things. For example, when a parachute is deployed, it creates drag, which slows the rocket's descent.
For the past few weeks, I have been working on a rocket project in math and physics. Our objective during the project was to build a water bottle rocket that would go as high as possible using math such as quadratics and our knowledge of the laws of physics and free body diagrams.
The first part of the engineering and design process (EDP) is to ask a Question. Our question was how to make a water bottle rocket that goes as high as possible and can fall back down to the ground in a slow and controlled manner. The next part of the EDP is to Research. We researched bottle rockets on http://www.aircommandrockets.com/. This step was important because it taught me how to build a water bottle rocket and how it works. Step three of the EDP is to Imagine a Solution to the problem; this is when we made small smart water bottle rocket prototypes. We also created blueprints that 11th graders critiqued. The fourth step of the EDP is to make a Plan. For this step, I revised my blueprint and made a timeline for what I needed to get done on the rocket to have it ready by the first test launch. Step five of the EDP is Create; we built our rocket for this step. We 3D printed a mono fin out of carbon nylon, made a parachute out of a trash bag, and made the pressure chamber out of Soda bottles. We spliced the soda bottles together to build a bigger pressure chamber. The sixth step of the EDP process was to Test. For this step, we filled our rocket about 1/3 up with water and launched it.
The rocket was extremely unstable and in flight, and the parachute deployed too early, and the parachute did not slow the rocket down enough. These were important observations because fixing this problem led to the final step, Improve. To improve our rocket, we moved our 3D-printed monofin further up the fuselage and added three laser-cut elliptical fins onto the monofin. Then, we created a better nose cone and a massive parachute. We use the EDP because it is a structured and systematic way of answering questions and doing Experiments. We followed these steps to answer the question of how to make a water bottle rocket go as high as possible and fall back down to the Earth safely.
Mathematics:
We use quadratics to describe a Rocket's flight because it is a method for accurately showing where the rocket was at different stages. A quadratic is a function with x squared. We need this because it makes a curve and matches the rocket flight. For example, if you want to see the rocket's apogee, you can see where the highest point is on the quadratic height time graph and at what time the missile gets there. The position is a point, the rocket's height given time. Velocity is the slope of the curve given a point. Acceleration is the change in velocity or the change in slope, and it can be seen as the curve itself. Linear motion velocity is how fast you are moving in a direction. Acceleration is when you change velocity or Direction. Free Fall is when an object falls to the Earth, and gravity is the primary Force acting on the object; the other Force is drag once the object enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Physics:
Newton's first law: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Because all matter has inertia, an object will keep traveling in a straight line until a gravitational pull or external Force acts on it.
Newton's second law: Force equals mass times acceleration. We measure Force in Newtons. Which is kilograms multiplied by meters divided by seconds squared. Friction is when an object rubs up against another object. Drag is when an object rubs up against air or water. Mass is how much matter something has. Weight is how much gravity is acting on an object.
Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object is lying on the ground on Earth, gravity is pulling down on the object, and Normal Force is pushing up on the object, which balances the Forces and makes the velocity zero. We can use systems to decompose the forces of objects doing various things. For example, when a parachute is deployed, it creates drag, which slows the rocket's descent.
Successes and takeaways:
My rocket was a success! It went reasonably high, and the parachute deployed properly to slow down the rocket's descent. I am happy with the journey/outcome of making my rocket because I put in a lot of effort, which was shown in the end result of my rocket going 319 ft and coming back to the ground safely.
While building my rocket, I made a large 5 L pressure chamber that held 110 PSI. I made this pressure chamber by splicing three 2 L pressure Chambers together. Another success was that my group and I stayed on track during the rocket project, allowing us to have two test launches to test and refine our rocket further to make sure it was ready for the final launch. One way that we refined our rocket was that we moved our monofin further up the rocket and we put on three elliptical fins to give the rocket more stabilization during flight.
One Challenge I had while building the rocket was making a big enough parachute. The first variation of my parachute was 12 inches in diameter, and I thought it would be fine for my rocket. I did not consider that my rocket weighed more than three times the standard bottle rockets, so I had to make a 2 ft diameter parachute. In the end, this parachute worked well and slowed down the rocket.
If I were to do this project again, I would assemble a full set of backup pieces of my rocket, including a backup parachute, nose cone, and fins. For the sophomores next year, I recommend that they be on task during work times to get the rockets built in time for the final launch.
My rocket was a success! It went reasonably high, and the parachute deployed properly to slow down the rocket's descent. I am happy with the journey/outcome of making my rocket because I put in a lot of effort, which was shown in the end result of my rocket going 319 ft and coming back to the ground safely.
While building my rocket, I made a large 5 L pressure chamber that held 110 PSI. I made this pressure chamber by splicing three 2 L pressure Chambers together. Another success was that my group and I stayed on track during the rocket project, allowing us to have two test launches to test and refine our rocket further to make sure it was ready for the final launch. One way that we refined our rocket was that we moved our monofin further up the rocket and we put on three elliptical fins to give the rocket more stabilization during flight.
One Challenge I had while building the rocket was making a big enough parachute. The first variation of my parachute was 12 inches in diameter, and I thought it would be fine for my rocket. I did not consider that my rocket weighed more than three times the standard bottle rockets, so I had to make a 2 ft diameter parachute. In the end, this parachute worked well and slowed down the rocket.
If I were to do this project again, I would assemble a full set of backup pieces of my rocket, including a backup parachute, nose cone, and fins. For the sophomores next year, I recommend that they be on task during work times to get the rockets built in time for the final launch.