Experimental Design Diagrams Name Rachel Voetberg HR 4th

A. Question: Will the amount of water in the 20 oz affect the distance that the rocket will
travel?
B. Hypothesis: If there is more water in the rocket, then it will not travel as far because
there is more weight in the rocket.
Amount of Water VS Distance
Amount of Water Distance (Meters) Average Distance
(mL) (Meters)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
0 mL 12 9 3 8
125 mL 27 26 20 24.33
250 mL (Control) 30 33 27 30
375 mL 38 40 33 37
500 mL 42 63 54 53
Source: Rachel Voetberg and Lauren Prince, 2010 May 7

C. Five Controlled Variables: 3 Fins, Two Bottles (2 Liter/20 oz.), Time of Launch (Amount of
Time it sits on Rocket Launcher), Angle of Trajectory, Amount of psi (75).
D. Materials: One 2 Liter Bottle, One 20 oz Bottle, Duct Tape, Cardboard, Meter Sticks,
Water, Ruler, and Rocket Launcher.
E. Procedure:
1.) First collect materials.
2.) Duct tape together the two different sized bottles. Duct tape their bottoms to each other.
4.) Make your fins by cutting Right Triangles out of cardboard.
3.) Remove both backs.
5.) The triangles need to be a 6 inches by 4 inches.
6.) Make three of those.
7.) Duct tape the three fins equally apart on the 2 liter.
8.) Put 200 mL of water in the 20 oz, put the cap on after.
9.) Check to make sure the air pressure inside the bottle is at 75 psi (you check that on the
air compressor.)
10.) Quickly, place 250 mL in the 2 liter.
11.) Quickly, place the rocket on the rocket launcher.
12.) Once everything seems safe yell, “Launch.”
13.) Launch Your Rocket.
14.) Once your rocket has landed, count in meters how far it went.
15.) Repeat Steps 1-9, Change Step 10 to, “Put 0 mL of water in the bottle,” Repeat Steps
11-14.
16.) Repeat Steps 1-9, Change Step 10 to, “Put 125 mL of water in the bottle,” Repeat Steps
11-14.
17.) Repeat Steps 1-9, Change Step 10 to, “Put 375 mL of water in the bottle,” Repeat Steps
11-14.
18.) Repeat Steps 1-9, Change Step 10 to, “Put 500 mL of water in the bottle,” Repeat Steps
11-14.

34273023.doc
F. Check your experimental design diagram with your instructor and carry out the
experiment.
G. Fill in the data table.
H. Graph your data on Excel. (Use the graphing guidelines.)

34273023.doc
I. Write a conclusion.
1. Does your data support your hypothesis? Why or why not? (Describe by referring to
your data! Be sure you talk about your data and graph.)

Our hypothesis was not correct. We thought that if there was more water, then the rocket
would not travel as far compared to having less water. Our data and graph shows this. As the
amount of water increases in the two liter, the distance that is travels increases too. On our
graph, our line is slowly increasing because the distance and amount of water is increasing.
On our data table, our averages were 8, 24.3, 30, 37, and 53. Notice how these numbers
keep increasing. That is because the amount of water in the two liter was increasing by 125
mL each time. So, our hypothesis was clearly wrong because we thought it would be the
exact opposite. We thought that as you added more water, the rocket would not go as far. We
thought that because there is more weight so the rocket would not be able to travel as far.
Turns out, the more water helps the rocket go farther.

2. What changes would you make if you did the experiment again and why? (Be specific
to the individual experiment…NOT “Be more accurate” “Do more trials”)

If I could change some things about this experiment I would definitely add more different
amounts of water to test. Going up to only 500 mL was helpful, but I wish I would have gone
higher. I feel like I would have been able to see if you get too much water, if it in fact
eventually does not allow the rocket to go as far as a certain amount. Maybe the amount of
water had a graph that goes up and then down like a parabola. Another thing I would change
is I would have made sure that the rocket was on the rocket launcher for the same amount of
time before each launch. I feel as if I could have been more accurate in that area. As the
rocket stayed on there longer, it lost more water so some of my amounts of waters may have
changed and the distance that my rocket traveled may have been affected.

34273023.doc