JJ Blogwriter

This Class (Hydro Rocket Science)in a Nutshell:
Hydro Rocket Science is a fun summer program for students in Grades 5-8. We work, we play, we have fun. First we learn the facts, the concrete evidence, and experiment with it. Then we really build the hydro rocket with materials, and use abstract thinking to complete this hefty task. Finally, we launch it on launch day, and look with excitement, waiting for the rocket to land.
Image from: http://www.dan-dare.org/
The Details
The Experimenting
The Experimenting started on the first day, and we started to learn some physics and chemistry about the science of flying. We used a balloon and very little materials to make wings, stands for the rocket to try to make it go straight and far. As I look at the others fly their rockets through the hallway, I found out that all of them have little bits that didn't really work for them. Some had materials that were too sharp and popped the balloon, some had too much weight and soon fell to the ground before anyone else's, and others, just had too much drag and then reduced its speed by quite a bit. I think our theories all come to the fact that the wings or the stands of the rocket needs to be low, needs to be light, and needs to be quite drag-resistant. The best design would be the real rockets' design, which is a obtuse angled leg that stands on the ground to hold the rocket up on the launch pad, and 4 of them standing on each side of the rocket (although it's round). Let one of be on 0 degrees, one on 90, one on 180, and one on 270 degrees. Symmetrically, that is very correct, and hopefully will bring stability to the plane when it goes high up into the air.
The next experiment we did was on the second day, and was to experiment with the parachutes, or the recovery system that we need to put on our rocket. The parachutes need to be round, symmetrical and the canopy needs to be large and easy to resist on air. A hole is probably needed in the center of the canopy and that would probably bring the parachute and the tennis ball in the landing part of the rocket back to me, so I could recover it. Although I didn't create a parachute yet, but I have an idea ready for my parachute already, and I will put it in use once I finish my rocket. Hopefully this will work when I launch my rocket.
All these experiments are helpful to the launch of my rocket on launch day. The drag prevention, the thrust and acceleration, the recovery system, the nose cone design will all affect how I build my rocket and how my results will be, in comparison to if a rocket was really well or really poorly built. Whenever there is information, it would be taken and used for any other future projects, and this would apply to this project. All this design information will force the best of our building plans and hopefully bring out a really good rocket show on our launch day.
Plans on building rocket before the initial beginning of work
For this rocket, I have many plans on how this should be built, but one outstands all the others and it seems like I am probably going to use it to build my rocket. Whenever you build, you need a "blueprint" plan, and then you should start your building. So beforehand, I have come up with some plans at home, due to my lack of activities to do at home (after 3 hours of this course), some designs are very inappropriate, a lot of drag, or a lot of weight on the rocket. One plan though outstands the other (as I said earlier), and that would be a design that is very similar to a modern day rocket. The stands of the rocket are in an obtuse angle with the flat end on the floor that holds it up.
The Initial Construction
Parachute Construction
Today, July the 12th, we continued to build our parachutes for our recovery system on our rocket. The parachute's material is a regular trash bag, which is a material that can fall down slowly from high altitudes. What I have done so far with my parachute is that I have cut out a large circle, folded creases into 16ths and punch holes in the middle of each section separated. Then avery labels, or avery tabs, are secured in place for more reinforcement. Then strings are attached into each hole that is punched. These are the shroud lines, which secures the parachute to the object that needs to have the parachute for a safe landing, and a good recovery chance. Then there is the procedure to secure the string (shroud lines) to the object that needs the parachute (which is a nose cone that has a tennis ball in it for weight). After hole punching around the top portion of the nose cone, then I tied strings to each hole and then I tied the strings to the other holes in the parachute (as I said earlier) and created a parachute that hangs on to the recovery portion of the rocket. After that, the recovery system of my rocket is finished.
Making of the Fins (Wings)
The fins will probably be a diagonal wing that comes from a low point of the rocket, and then there would be an attached point that straightens out to a horizontal piece of cardboard and then it would be attached to the fuselage and then it would come down to the base of the launch pad or somewhere like that. Although drag is quite heavy on the fins in this situation, at least it does not fall off the rocket like the fins with a obtuse angle on it. Most of those fall off, but it is the best to defeat drag. But the risks are too high, since most of the rockets with that design of the fin usually falls off. I'd like the fins to stay on for the flight, and come down with the rocket piece that does not use the parachute.
Container for the Egg (prototype plan)
The container for the egg will probably be attached to the object that carries a tennis ball for weight, which is also attached to the parachute for a safe landing (it is attached to the recovery system). My plan on the day would be to have the container of the egg to be attached to the tennis ball (secured by tape) and then the egg will most likely land safely.
Final plan for Egg
The final plan for this egg problem will be solved by just held on the recovery system, or the object tied to the parachute that will land safely and tow the main fuselage to the ground with it. Hopefully there is newspaper or something that I can hold the egg with. I will make a newspaper basket or something that will hold the egg safely and haul the whole rocket fuselage with it to the ground, meanwhile not breaking any part of itself (detachment, breaking of the shroud lines, or breaking of the canopy).
Newton's Laws of Motion applied to the Rocket
Newton's 3 Laws of Motion apply to all moving objects on Earth, as they are all acted upon many forces and change when going to different directions. Newton's first law - An object at rest will remain at rest; an object in motion will remain in motion at constant velocity (speed and direction) unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, is acted upon many everyday examples. Maybe one will inspire you to life: A car in the countryside, driving on the road will not stop unless acted upon by another force, which would be the brake of the car. Although the car has stopped, the people inside will not stop unless there were seatbelts fastened. Most likely though, if they have any objects tied to the roof of their car, they will probably fall onto the road and be broken after that shock impact. Now to apply this to the rocket, the force that is moving the object (or powering it) is water from the bottle, and the force trying to stop it in air is friction (or drag) that will hit it to apogee and make it fall back down safely (hopefully safely) with the recovery system. Newton's second law is of no use in this situation, but Newton's third law is probably the most important. The acceleration and movement of the rocket is opposed by the friction of the air, which will force it onto apogee.
History of Rocketry (and Rockets)
The history of rockets really began quite long ago, at around 100 BC. But those were pretty much only myths and no real usage of rockets were performed. For instance, one would be a Chinese official who wanted to travel to the moon tied 47 rockets to a chair and started flying. He blew up mid-air and once the smoke was gone, this Chinese official was gone. These were the myths that were being told until the year AD 1232, when the Chinese were the ones who used the rockets. The Chinese started using rockets in battle, and used them for fireworks displays too. Really, these firework like objects can be lethal in battles, and are very important in the Chinese arsenal. The Chinese used rockets against the Mogols who were besieging them during the battle between Chinese and the Mongols. Until the recent 20th and 21st century, most rockets were used for military issues and in battles (warfare). Between the 13th and 15th century, an Italian scientist invented surface running rocket-powered torpedoes that could be fired at enemy ships; and in the 16th century, a scientist drew the first drawing of a staged rocket. By the 18th and 19th century, the British have invented rockets that were used as weapons and could fire 9,000 feet. These were used against the United States in the battle of 1812. The inspiration for these rockets came when the Indians bombarded the British troops in India with their own rockets, and forced the British army to run for their lives. By the late 19th century and early 20th century, the inventors found out there were other usages for these weapons. For instance, the Congreve rocket, the ones used by the British army, could send lines to stranded ships. Thousands of lives were saved by this technique in 1914. Finally, a Russian teacher revealed that if the rockets used liquid fuel and turned it into gas and made it escape as thrust, then the rockets would have greater range. After World War Two, the countries started to build rockets for outer space, instead of only using them in warfare. The Russians first achieved to launch an artificial satellite into orbit, and it was named Sputnik. The Americans were devastated as a few months later, their rocket toppled over on the launch pad due to insufficient amount of thrust. Although the Americans did not achieve the first artificial satellite, they were getting closer and closer to the moon, as the Russians did not proceed as far as the Americans. By the end of the 1950s, the Americans had already reached to within 37,000 miles of the moon before going into solar orbit. The creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created on October 1st, 1958. In 1961, the first man to be orbiting the Earth was Alan B. Shepard, and returned safely. In the late 1960s, NASA launched Saturn V (5 in roman numerals). This was the most powerful of the Saturn family, as it created as much energy as 85 Hoover Dams. The crowning achievement of this rocket was found when it launched and carried Apollo 11's crew onto the Moon in July of 1969. The last 3 Apollo missions used the LRV, or Lunar Roving Vehicle, which enabled the astronauts to travel over several miles away from the Lunar Landing Site. Now, in the 21st century, we expect to see more and more advanced spacecraft and space shuttles sent to space, with decreasing amounts of accidents occurring with this modern technology.
Construction of the Altimeter
Our altimeter is constructed in a very simple construction plan. It is a protractor with the angles on it, and it would have an eraser and straw attached to it. Before you look at the procedure of this construction, please notify yourself with the needed and appropriate materials for this construction. Here as follows: a protractor, an 8 to 10 inch string, an eraser, a straw and massive amounts of tape. The following is the procedure of the construction of this home-made altimeter: First, get your protractor, tie a piece of string to the position where when you measure angles you place the verticies under that point; Secondly, tape that end onto the protractor itself to secure that into position. Thirdly, tie and tape the other side with an eraser, just like what you did to your protractor. Then, the fourth step would be taping the straw next to the base of the protractor, which makes it a tube where you could look through, and then measure the degree. The operational process of this home-made altimeter is revealed in the next section.
Operational Process of the Altimeter
So, now the big question is how to operate this altimeter. There are a few materials that you need before hand, which are as follows: your altimeter, a table of tangents, a calculator (or you could choose to use mental math). Lets presume that you are looking upon an object with quite a high altitude. You look up through your straw, and if your finger is not in the path of the eraser and string, you will find that it is hanging down in an angle you can read. Push the string onto the protractor wherever it lands, and whatever the angle is, is the angle that you have. Now, to find how high the object is, subtract 90 by this angle. Lets say the angle you got was about 55 degrees. Subtract 90 by 55 and you would get 35 degrees. Then use this new angle to find the tangents in the table of tangents. 35 in the table of tangents is 0.7. Then use the distance you stand from the object and multiply it to the tangent found on the table and you would get your height. Lets say you were 100 feet away from the object you were looking at. 7 hundreths multiplied by 100 would get 70. Therefore the height of your object you were looking at was 70 feet. This would apply to any object you are looking at from a distance of 100 feet. The angles change in the distance you are from the object, but the height would be the same, because the height is a constant, and it doesn't change unless there is a force pushing it still. This system would apply to any object in a distance within 1 kilometer, because further than that, you would probably not be able to see it.
Collection and Construction of Recovery System
The recovery system's different parts need to be collected and constructed together to make the full recovery system to put on my rocket. The parachutes and shroud lines, and the nose cone (with the punched holes for the shroud lines) are all assembled to create a recovery system that would hopefully bring my rocket back to the Earth with minimal to none damage applied to it. The attachment of the tennis ball for weight and the attachment of the nose cone is crucial for the flight itself. The first one helps the landing pod have enough weight to fall out of the rocket at apogee, and the latter helps reduce drag from the liftoff itself.
Finishing Touches and Detailed Perfections
The details and the finishing touches were simple and didn't take more than five minutes until completion. These were just the taping and the finishing touches to the nose cone at the tip of it. The nose cone needed to be perfected for the flight to make the hole at the tip disappear. Taping was needed and then the rocket was all complete and ready for the launch day.
*note: all text written above this astrocoal (star to the left) is written before launch day.
Flight Result
Flight Results of July 26th, 2007:
JJ's two flights:
1st flight: Altitude of Apogee - 18 feet; Angle of Altimeter - 80 degrees
2nd flight: Not recorded in data
Jason's two flights:
1st flight: Altitude of Apogee - 290 feet; Angle of Altimeter - 19 degrees
2nd flight: Not recorded in data
Ken's two flights:
1st flight: Altitude of Apogee/Angle of Altimeter - not recorded; Time to Apogee - 1.09 sec.
2nd flight: Not recorded in data.
Link to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Click here: http://www.nasa.gov