Rocket Eggmision

Q Focus:

1.)  Will more water in the rocket make the rocket launch farther?

In our rockets, we used 900 ml of water.  The result was that one of our rockets got the farthest distance.

2.)  Does the angle affect the distance?

Yes it does.  In our practice launches, we launched at 45 degrees. This resulted in a distance of less than 30 meters.  At 43 degrees, we were able to reach 90 meters.

3.)  What will let the egg survive?

Based on the launches, most of the eggs died.  It seemed that it was luck if eggs survived.

Making of the Rocket

Materials:

• 2, 2-L bottles 
• Duct tape 
• aluminum foil tape 
• hair spray 
• cardboard 
• scissors 
• folder

To build our rockets, we began with cutting one bottle in half and using it as a nose cone. I used a piece of cardboard from the bottom of a water bottle case and began to cut it into 4 fins. I wrapped each fin in aluminum foil which helped add more weight to the rocket as well as making the fins sturdier. I attached the fins to the bottle by first spraying some hair spray on it to make it sticky and then wrapping it with duct tape. We used felt and cotton balls to try to keep the egg safe. We thought that something soft would keep the egg from breaking.

Physics of the Rocket

When building a rocket, you have to think about many different factors. The amount of water, how much it weighs, the position of the fins and even the direction in which it is pointed. Every aspect makes a difference when launching your rocket, Too much weight will make it uneven and cause it too spin or flip, The fins being slightly tilted could cause it to rotate when flying through the air and not enough water with too much compressed air could cause it not to go far enough. The cotton balls would make the egg have more of an impact time which will then lessen the amount of force acting upon the egg.

http://www.ohio.edu/mechanical/programming/rocket/analysis1.html

What I Learned:

I learned that weight distribution plays a big part on the rocket launch.  If the bottom is too heavy, it will spiral out of control.  If the top is too heavy, it will go up and go straight down.  However, if the balance point is about a third from the top, it will keep the rocket straight and shoot farther.

Conclusion

For our rockets, we used 900 ml of water and pumped it to 80 psi.  We launched it at an angle of 43 degrees.  Our rocket reached 90 meters, the farthest in our class.  In the end, our egg did not survive.  I think that our design was very good.  However, we could have used more material to keep the egg from breaking.