Rocket ReflectionThe design and construction of the rocket went well. However, when we began to launch our rocket, it flew sideways. I think this was because of a trigger malfunction, and later the wind. I would try to use other people’s designs next time in an attempt to make the rocket fly straight. One new design I would use would be using long and narrow PVC pipe with a platform for the parachute and nose cone. I would also use only one soda bottle as opposed to two so that pressure would build faster. I would also have used a higher water level to compressed air ratio as the rocket ran out of fuel to soon. I would also change the nose cone, because ours was not heavy enough to cause the parachute to deploy. I would solve this problem by attaching weight to the nose cone or by using a material heavier then the top of a soda bottle to build the nose cone. I would also change the way the nose cone was attached to the rocket as paperclips made it hard to keep the nosecone straight and may have been one of the reasons that the parachute did not deploy. I also would have stored the parachute on the outside of my rocket as we did in our original design. These aspects most likely would have improved our rocket’s performance at the exhibition.
Even though our rocket did not perform well at the exhibition, it was still a fun experience. Seeing all of the different designs and how they preformed was very interesting. It was also fun retrieving rockets after they were launched. However, the weather at exhibition made it difficult for each rocket to launch to its maximum possible height. The wind caused early parachute deployments, rockets to fly sideways, and made nose cones come off on the lunch pad. These aspects caused rockets to be unable to reach their maximum possible heights. Several groups' ideas proved that they didn’t work well at this exhibition. One of these failure ideas was using a balloon to try and slow the rocket’s fall. The balloon came off the rocket and then the rocket crashed because of lack of a parachute-like devise. Another idea that didn’t work was using dry ice to try and launch the second stage of a two-stage rocket. This attempt ended without the second stage deploying and then the rocket crashing. Also, trying to make a round parachute didn’t work in most cases. A parachute that was fashioned only out of the bottom part of a trash bag worked better. Many nose cone designs also failed to deploy the parachute, because they weren’t heavy enough. In conclusion, many designs did not work that well and ours was one of them. Even though many designs, including ours, did not work, the exhibition had many aspects that were extremely fun like trying to catch the rockets. It was also fun seeing what ideas worked and what ideas were complete failures. Over all, this rocket project was a great experience, and I wish that I could do it again. |
The Physics Behind My Rocket
Newton’s first law of motion affected the rocket, The Unknown. This law states that an object at rest will remain at rest and a moving object will continue moving in a straight line with constant speed, if and only if the net force acting on that object is zero. This law applied to the rocket both when it was on the launch pad and when it was in the air. When it was on the launch pad, all of the different forces inside the rocket had an equal and opposite force causing the net force to be zero. When the rocket was launched the downward force inside the rocket was lost. This caused the upward force to be an unbalanced force with no equal opposite force, which, in turn, caused the rocket to gain upward motion.
Newton’s second law of motion also affected the motion of the rocket. This second law is represented by the equation F=ma where F stands for force, m stands for mass, and a stands for acceleration. Since our rocket was more massive than many of the other rockets, it took a longer period of time for it to accelerate. The mass of our rocket caused more net force to be necessary for it to cancel out the force of gravity and to accelerate upward instead. The same principle also explained why the smaller rockets that had less mass accelerated much faster than our large rocket. Our rocket also didn’t reach as high of a maximum speed as the smaller rockets, because the smaller rockets accelerated faster. This caused the velocity to become higher for the smaller rockets in a shorter amount of time, which gave them a greater maximum speed.
Newton’s third law of motion affected our rocket as well. This law explains that when an object exerts a force on a second object, this second object also exerts a force on the first that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Our rocket’s fuel applied a force on the launch pad. This made the launch pad exert a force on the rocket. Since the launch pad had more mass then our rocket, the rocket moved upward while the launch pad did not move visibly. The same force was applied to both objects but due to the difference in mass, only the lighter object, the rocket, moved visibly.
Newton’s second law of motion also affected the motion of the rocket. This second law is represented by the equation F=ma where F stands for force, m stands for mass, and a stands for acceleration. Since our rocket was more massive than many of the other rockets, it took a longer period of time for it to accelerate. The mass of our rocket caused more net force to be necessary for it to cancel out the force of gravity and to accelerate upward instead. The same principle also explained why the smaller rockets that had less mass accelerated much faster than our large rocket. Our rocket also didn’t reach as high of a maximum speed as the smaller rockets, because the smaller rockets accelerated faster. This caused the velocity to become higher for the smaller rockets in a shorter amount of time, which gave them a greater maximum speed.
Newton’s third law of motion affected our rocket as well. This law explains that when an object exerts a force on a second object, this second object also exerts a force on the first that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Our rocket’s fuel applied a force on the launch pad. This made the launch pad exert a force on the rocket. Since the launch pad had more mass then our rocket, the rocket moved upward while the launch pad did not move visibly. The same force was applied to both objects but due to the difference in mass, only the lighter object, the rocket, moved visibly.
Works of Writing that I am Proud of
Earth Science Home Work Questions1. Our map is a fairly accurate representation of the park. There are, however, some areas that are inaccurate. The trees and other objects on the map are most likely off from their actual positions. The far right side is also not in its actual position. The trees are not in the correct positions, because we ran out of class time at the park to get accurate measurements for all of the trees could not find time outside of school to complete the measurements. The right side of the park is different from how it should be represented, because it would have gone off of the map if we had not changed the angle of this side.
2. To measure the distances of the park, we simply walked the sections that needed to be measured, wrote down the number of steps, and found how long our average footstep was. While this was not the most accurate method of finding the distances, considering the materials that we had available to us, it was the best method that we could have used for this project. 3. To deal with magnetic declination, we used the compasses to find magnetic north, and since it is currently ten degrees off from true north, we subtracted ten degrees from whatever degree number we took and with this method found the actual degree number relative to true north. 4. Georeferencing an object is defining its existence in physical space by finding and establishing its north-west coordinates on a coordinate system. To do this on our map, we simply found north-west coordinates of several points and wrote these coordinates at the map points representing those in real life. 5. 6610ft-6584ft = 26ft 26ft/403ft = slope 1mile = 5280ft (26ft/403ft)•5280ft ≈ 341ft The gradient is 26ft/403ft, and if this gradient were applied over one mile, I would have walked about 341 feet uphill. |
Science Final exhibition Refection
The exhibition was fairly successful overall. However, few people who were not, teachers, students, or parents asked questions and talked to us. The exhibition was rather boring because of this. To improve things next time, better publicity could help with attendance and, consequently, improve the exhibition. While this exhibition was fairly successful, in my opinion, it was the least successful of the school year, partially because attendance was so low. Other than the attendance issues, this was a great exhibition, and it was fun to see what other students and grades were working on, and improved what would otherwise be a dull experience.
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