Today is April 11, 2011, approximately around 2:37 in the afternoon. Since the last time we had launched our rocket we had made changes to it by adding cardboard fins and a parachute. We added 1 liter of water before we had headed out to launch our rocket. We were located on Kinau Hale lawn because of the sprinklers on Konia Circle. Today is an ugly day the weather is horrible because of the rain. We had three air trials and all trials did not stay in the air longer than 10 seconds. The longest airtime that we had was our first trial, which was seven seconds. That had flown high into the air and the parachute attached to the bottle rocket did not deploy. In the other two launched the airtime was around six seconds and the parachute also didn’t deploy. Our seven-second launch had gone in a northeast direction if facing north was Ka‘ahumanu. While the rocket was in the air you could hear the parachute trying to open but had failed to do so. We had thought that when center of gravity extends beyond its support it topples that we would have a longer airtime because since the nose cone would topple that the parachute would deploy causing more airtime. We tried and had kept our rocket in the air for seven seconds. :)

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:qItTp5HRTD4J:www.midlandparkschools.k12.nj.us/6677136114454/lib/6677136114454/_files/Center_of_Gravity.pptx+center+of+gravity+is+below+area+of+support+it+will+topple&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShFCJzv89VbZTPR0XoEWSv2XmZdBa1tHvmQYGAyPWF7kJCTRpiC4w6H3lPmCEZdMh5y-446culU27PfJGIZyoIxScPbj97cJlFX2Ycn9EMLmMuTKfI-4nv1nD-eQipa4ZGeo8kS&sig=AHIEtbTeqHMtgbKKkEyyxFwIXsZEHLfCNA&pli=1

http://www.ehow.com/how_2305206_build-bottle-rocket-parachute.html

Today is April 4, 2011. The film above shows our second launch of our bottle rocket. We have added three fins made out of a manila folder to our rocket design. Adding these fins to the design will help the rockets stability while in flight, helping the rocket to stay in the air on its path. If five or more fins were added to the rocket, the weight of the fins would make the rocket drag. For our bottle rocket we put 1 liter of water into the bottle. Setting up the bottle rocket took time because the equipment that we were using did not want to corporate. When the set-up was finished, we tried to launch the water and water from the squirted out from the bottle. We fixed the rocket and tried again. The second try was more successful because it was in the air for 6.3 seconds. What had happen on the second try was after the take off of the bottle rocket the fins had ripped off the bottle, with the bottle and the fins separated when gravity had pulled it back down to Earth. The direction that the bottle rocket went in was north west of the launch pad if north was facing the auditorium. When the bottle rocket works by conserving The Conservation of Momentum Law which will requires the momentum of the bottle to be equal but opposite to the momentum of the escaping air. Therefore, more massive particles will impart more momentum to the rocket. Ways to improve our rocket designs are to use cardboard for the fins instead of manila folder because it will be more stable and to use a parachute so the bottle rocket will have a greater airtime.

http://school.analogcafe.net/9th/waterrockets/nasareader.pdf
http://www.instructables.com/id/Soda-Bottle-Water-Rocket/

1st Launch Video

1ST LAUNCH

Today is March 15, 2011 and was the first day that we have launched our bottle rocket. There were no difficulties with setting up the equipment or launching the rocket it. We were able to launch the rocket on our first try. The design of our rocket was your simple 2-liter bottle with no adjustments added to it. We wanted to test the 2-liter bottle first to see the airtime results and make adjustments from there on so that we would have a longer airtime. The airtime was 5.23 seconds. The bottle rocket shot up into the air but than landed southwest of the launch pad if north is facing the Akahi stairs. To improve the airtime we would add fins and even a parachute to help the rocket stay in the air longer. This experiment involves Newton’s third law for every action force, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Since the bottle rocket had force making the rocket go into the air the opposite reaction would be the forces of gravity pushing the rocket back to the ground.

Design Ideas

This is our bottle rocket that we will be designing to launch. We will be recording observations such as time in the air. We will be documenting our design ideas on what will work and what wont work as while as making changes to our design based upon our launch data, as well as our launches. The first rocket design that we will be using is your basic two-liter bottle. Using a basic rocket will help to make changes to improve the airtime for the rocket. Each day the rocket will have different additions to it hopefully make the rocket stay in the air longer.

Thank you,
Oka and Kimi