Rocket Project Writeup

Intro:

Linear motion is the motion that is most natural to an object.According to Newton's

first law of motion, objects that do not experience any net force will continue to
move in a straight line with a constant velocity until they are subjected to a net
force.Free fall is an object that is falling under the influence of gravity.
Frame of reference is a set of physical reference points that fix the coordinate
system and standardize measurements within that frame. An example of free fall/
gravity is if you dropped a ball off a building, the ball is under the influence of
gravity so it just falls right down, gravity is like weight pulling the object down.
This is why we can’t just float around.

Newton’s 1st law of motion states that every object continues in a state of rest or
of uniform speed in a straight line unless acted on by a force. This law of motion is
also known as the law of inertia. For those who don’t know, inertia is the property
of an object to resist changes in motion. Let's say you and your friend roll a ball,
the ball is rolling in motion until your friend acts as an unbalanced force.

Newton's 2nd law of motion, also known as the Law of force and mass, states that the
acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables, the net force acting upon
the object and the mass of the object.

The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the
object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. As the force acting upon an object
is increased, the acceleration of the object is increased. As the mass of an object
is increased, the acceleration of the object is decreased.

Newton's 3rd law of motion, also known as the Law of action and reaction states that,
to every action there is always an opposed equal reaction.An example of this is if
you are leaning on a wall. You are an object that is using the force the wall is
pushing back with the and equal force, this is why we can't just fall through a wall.

Kinematics:

Acceleration during takeoff

For acceleration during takeoff we got 50.86 m/s²
We got this by dividing our initial velocity and the time spent under thrust.
Initial velocity: 30.52 meters per sec
Time under thrust: 0.6 sec

Velocity of the rocket on descent

For velocity of descent we got 4.94 m/s
We got this by dividing the max height and the duration of decent
Max height: 74.67 meter/sec
Duration of descent: 15.1 sec
Deceleration on landing,
For deceleration of landing we got 151
We calculated this by dividing the duration of descent and the duration of landing
Duration of descent: 15.1 sec
Duration of landing: 0.1 sec

Dynamics:

Force of thrust during takeoff, - the rocket accelerates upwards because the pressure
is pushing on the rocket and the air/water is pushing back on the rocket sending it
up

For force of thrust during takeoff we got 6.86 newtons or 0.05 newtons
We calculated this by multiplying the mass of our rocket by the acceleration of
takeoff.
Mass: 0.135 kilograms or 0.001 (I’m not really sure which on is correct)
Acceleration of takeoff: 50.86 m/s²

Force on the rocket during landing,

For the force on the rocket during landing we got 20.38 or 0.151
We calculated this by multiplying the mass of the rocket and the acceleration of
landing.
Mass: o.135 kl or 0.001 kl
Acceleration of landing: 151

Free body Diagrams:

Using the calculations and values above, you need to construct numerically accurate
and complete free body diagrams to help describe the forces acting on the rocket
system during:
● Prep

As the rocket is sitting on the launcher, the rocket has the force of gravity acting
upon it(0.009 or 1.32n). It is also experiencing an equal net force (0.009 0r 1.32n).
The rocket is at rest so there is no velocity.
Then we start adding the pressure to get it ready for takeoff. I think the bottle is
experiencing Newton’s 3rd law because the air pressure is pushing on the bottle and
the bottle is pushing back.

● Takeoff

When the rocket launches the pressure that was built up inside the bottle
pouches on the rocket. During take off the rocket is experiencing Newton’s 3rd
law (to every action there is always an opposed equal reaction) The water is
punching up on the rocket and the rocket is punching back on the water, this
is sending the rocket up.

● Flight

During flight the rocket is experiencing Newton’s 1st law (an object at
rest/motion stays at rest/motion until acted upon by a force) The rocket is
staying in motion until the air, the force of drag takes the rocket out of its
linear motion.

● Descent
 The rocket descends after it reaches its max height, mine was 245 ft. Gravity
is acting upon the rocket as it experiences a moment of free fall. The rocket
starts to experience drag, as it starts to level out. The rocket then feathers
its way down, it does this because both sides of the rocket are the same
weight making it level out.

● Landing

Gravity is pulling the rocket down to earth but the ground is a force acting that
stops the rocket in motion. The rocket pushes on the ground and the ground pushes
back with an equal reaction.

Reflection:
I feel like me and my partner function pretty well as a team, whenever we
wouldn’t agree on something we would compromise and meet in the middle. For example
we were going to add color tape to our rocket to make it more unique but we both
wanted to do a different color combination, so both of us chose a color we wanted and
that was our new color combo.
In my opinion I was more of a follower. It was mainly because I wasn’t there
for the beginning of the project so my partner had everything planned, and there
wasn’t really much room for me to add ideas or change anything. I feel like I did
support my partners strengths, my partner definitely has more of a leader personality
which is a very good strength to have, she kept me going when I didn’t want to work
and she always had a job for me to work on to make our rocket better. The weakness I
feel like I really filled in for was questioning our rockets ability. Most people
would think that asking/questioning something ability isn’t a strength, but I think
it is. I feel like If I wouldn't have stepped up in this area and questioned if the
tape was really going to hold up, and if the first fin design we had was really going
to work, our rocket wouldn't have been as refined as it was.
I feel like in the seven steps of the Engineering Design Process my partner
and I were most successful with improving our rocket design. During our first test
launch our splice had failed and our rocket exploded. To prevent this from happening
again we decided to use the method that didn’t involve splicing. This really improved
our project because it didn’t explode during the exhibition. We had another problem
that we needed to improve, during our 2nd text launch the glue we had used to attach
the tube on to the bottle didn’t hold. We had to find the best way to hold the tube
up without making the rocket heavier. We decided that one layer of normal tape and
one layer of electrical tape would hold the best. Our struggle was definitely with
testing, we went up to test launches 3 times and we only had one successful one. The
first launch our rocket exploded, the 2nd the tube fell off while we were still
pumping. The 3rd time the rocket actually flew but it still didn’t really go as
planned.
Something I learned in this project is how important communication really is.
If my partner and I never communicated our rocket would have been a total mess. But
communicating with each other helps us understand each other's ideas to make our
rocket the best it could be. Knowing that communication is key can help me in the
future. When I’m older I really want to be a Marine Biologist, having better
communication is always helpful in a place of work, as I said either it helps get
your ideas around.