Final Bottle Rocket Blog Post

     What design features were included in your rocket design?

Our rocket used 2 2 liter bottles, duct tape, plastic bag, string, cardboard, and hot glue. the rocket had 2 bottle back to back in each other having the neck of the bottle on both ends. One end we created at parachute to exit out of and the other is where the water would be held. We had three fins, they were used to keep the bottle steady on the way up. The Fins were hot glued and duck taped. The fins did the job for the most part. The parachute, when it worked and deployed, worked well. The parachute had some problems that could have been fixed if we had more time.

Your launch conditions:

We would usually get to around 60-80 PSI. The higher the PSI, it seemed the higher the rocket would go. We got higher psi's by getting Alex and I to pump at once adding more strength to the pump. The amount of water was about half each time. I observed that a little less than half would be most effective. Too much and the rocket would go too low. 

What has this project taught you? 

I learned about air friction. We learned to make it aerodynamic on the way up to get to the highest point, then a parachute to catch the air and slow down the fall. We learned how the force of gravity really pulls down on the object. We learned about acceleration. When the rocket fell it accelerated towards the ground. When the rocket shot up, the rocket accelerated towards the ground causing the rocket to slow down. I learned about techniques to make the bottle rocket have more air time. From seeing other groups and the websites, I found didn't designs for bottle rockets, fins, and parachutes.

Final Thoughts:

The bottle rocket project was an exciting project. It was fun to get out of the class and see physics in the real life. I wish we had an extra day or two to work on our rocket, but I think our rocket did well for the amount of time and thinking we did. Even thought we didn't make ten seconds (we made 7.1 seconds), we did our best and I was happy with out time.