Rocket Log
Entry 1-Day 6 Sept. 25, 2013
Entry 2-Day 7 Sept. 26, 2013
Entry 3-Day 8 Sept. 27, 2013
Entry 4-Day 9 Oct. 4, 2013 Entry 5- Day 10 Oct. 2, 2013
Entry 6- Day 11 Oct. 8, 2013
Entry 7- Day 12 Oct. 9, 2013
Entry 8- Day 13 Oct. 10, 2103
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Today we will sand down the glue that attaches the parachute strings to the rocket, so that the parachute comes out more smoothly.
Launch day, rocket went really high, but the parachute did not come out! :(
Cut out a smaller parachute to attach to the bigger parachute so it may possibly help in the process of pulling it out quicker.
Test Launch, everyone launched. Attached the small strings of the parachute to the big one, didn't work...
Attached the small parachute and taped it to the string connecting the large parachute and the nosecone. Through it off the hill to see if the mini parachute actually works, it does!
We attached plastic wings to the side of the rocket that will pop off the nose cone coming down.
Weighed the rocket, 2.38 N, and measured the rocket, 72cm. Last launch day!!!!
Added ring of card stock to the nose cone to keep it on during the launch and it's travel up. Exhibition day!!!
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Our Data Table
Rocket Reflection
We all stood there looking up, our mouths ajar as some rockets flew into the sky and other rockets exploded or flew sideways. I think the outcome of the exhibition was very successful and a pleasure to watch for the community. My team’s rocket, Lukamka, sadly did not soar into the sky as we had expected. When we were launching our rocket the pressure chamber started leaking and we knew from that moment that something was wrong that we had not accounted for. Two days before our exhibition we were having our last test launch and were able to fly our rocket twice, but Lukamka’s last flight it flew into giant spruce tree. Our shiny silver rocket was stuck fifty feet above the ground and we were devastated knowing we now had no rocket to fly. After school that Wednesday one of my group members, Luke Stetler, decided to climb the tree to retrieve our rocket. Camryn Sippy and I were ecstatic that we now had a rocket, but were very angry that he had risked his life for it. Friday came quickly and we all crowded up to the baseball fields at Riverview Elementary ready to see some rockets fly. The leak where water was spurting out of our rocket had been caused when our rocket had flown into the tree. Even though our rocket did not work as we had planned we were very glad that it was able to fly with the rest of our classmates rockets. Exhibition was success and I am more than proud of my peers and my own group for the amazing work that we all did.
Creating a perfect rocket for this project is nearly impossible and can sometimes become very frustrating when nothing seems to work. For all you eighth graders coming to Animas High School next year I would have to say that refinement will get your rocket to the best that it can be. Your first rocket will most likely not be your last, but if there is one thing you can take your time on and do well so you might not have to buys tons of water bottles is doing a well glue job. In my group we had done a well job with the glue and never had to create a new pressure chamber giving us more time to perfect the parachute and how it flew. If you can create a solid pressure chamber your rocket will fly without a doubt.
We all stood there looking up, our mouths ajar as some rockets flew into the sky and other rockets exploded or flew sideways. I think the outcome of the exhibition was very successful and a pleasure to watch for the community. My team’s rocket, Lukamka, sadly did not soar into the sky as we had expected. When we were launching our rocket the pressure chamber started leaking and we knew from that moment that something was wrong that we had not accounted for. Two days before our exhibition we were having our last test launch and were able to fly our rocket twice, but Lukamka’s last flight it flew into giant spruce tree. Our shiny silver rocket was stuck fifty feet above the ground and we were devastated knowing we now had no rocket to fly. After school that Wednesday one of my group members, Luke Stetler, decided to climb the tree to retrieve our rocket. Camryn Sippy and I were ecstatic that we now had a rocket, but were very angry that he had risked his life for it. Friday came quickly and we all crowded up to the baseball fields at Riverview Elementary ready to see some rockets fly. The leak where water was spurting out of our rocket had been caused when our rocket had flown into the tree. Even though our rocket did not work as we had planned we were very glad that it was able to fly with the rest of our classmates rockets. Exhibition was success and I am more than proud of my peers and my own group for the amazing work that we all did.
Creating a perfect rocket for this project is nearly impossible and can sometimes become very frustrating when nothing seems to work. For all you eighth graders coming to Animas High School next year I would have to say that refinement will get your rocket to the best that it can be. Your first rocket will most likely not be your last, but if there is one thing you can take your time on and do well so you might not have to buys tons of water bottles is doing a well glue job. In my group we had done a well job with the glue and never had to create a new pressure chamber giving us more time to perfect the parachute and how it flew. If you can create a solid pressure chamber your rocket will fly without a doubt.
Conclusion
At our rocket exhibition this year our rocket’s angle was at fifty-four degrees making the maximum height seventy three meters, and the observation table was fifty-three meters away from the launch pad. To calculate the maximum height, we multiplied the distance in meters from the observation table to the launch pad by the tangent function of our rocket’s flight angle. In order to calculate our rocket’s average velocity we multiply the maximum height by two then divided it by the actual flight time(4.76 s). This gave us our average velocity of 30.6 s. The flight time of our rocket was 4.76 s and the theoretical time was 7.7 s. We calculated the theoretical time by dividing the maximum height by (Earth’s acceleration multiplied by 0.5). Then you find the square root of that number and multiply it two. This will give you the theoretical flight time. As you can see these times are very different, and we had a 38% error in our flight time of what it should have been. Our flight time off because our rocket didn’t have a parachute and our rocket flew sideways instead up straight up and then back down. If it had made a perfect parabola we most likely would have had a more accurate flight time, but if we had had a working parachute the flight time would have been longer.