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Air Rockets
Air Rockets
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How it Works
I looked at the store-bought rocket and tried to think of materials that I could
use to build a rocket that was safe, light, and cheap. Foam pipe insulation
would fit over 1/2” PVC pipe, would be relatively light and absorb shock. A
ping pong ball cut in half would fit over the insulation, this would be light,
strong and not pointed. Cardboard could be for the fins and easily trimmed
with a scissors to experiment with different areas. Packing tape covered
the rocket for stiffness and to make it easier to attach the fins.
About the Construction
The launcher consists of a base to hold a tube vertical that the rocket will
slide on during the launch. I created a simple X-shape base structure
from strips of lumber. The PVC pipe was fastened to the base structure
with a cable tie that went around two wooden dowels that went partially
into the X-structure through holes drilled in the wood.
An “air bladder” is connected to PVC pipe with clear plastic tubing. The
air bladder is the portion of the project that I spent considerable time
experimenting with.
Safety Concerns
•The rockets are light in weight thus relatively low in kinetic energy, but
getting hit in the eye with anything is dangerous.
•Stomping on the air bladder with one foot should be relatively safe but
jumping on the air bladder with both feet there is a danger of stumbling or
spraining an ankle.
Building a Launcher
The base for the launcher was built from some cheap lumber that
was leftover from home repair project.
PVC pipe is
relatively
inexpensive and
found at a lumber
or hardware store.
I just pressed the
pieces together but
you could certainly
cement the pipes
and elbow
together.
Holes were drilled through the base and then dowels were glued
into the base. Plastic tie wraps held down the PVC pipe.
This is Prototype #1 with 2-liter bottle for air chamber and a rocket
made from foam pipe insulation, a ping pong ball, and cardboard.
The 2-liter soda bottle was badly crushed after just a few
launches.
I am examining the crushed bottle,
what is needed is an air chamber
that has “elasticity”. That is the
physical property of a material to
return to its original shape after the
external force that made it deform
is removed. The external force in
this case is my feet jumping down
on the air chamber.
Prototype air chamber #2 made from heavy plastic shipping bag,
foam rubber and tape.
A couple of jumps on the bag blew out one side.
A science teacher friend had suggested a boat fender might work well
for the air chamber, and he was right. Cost was the only issue if
everyone in a group is building a launcher. On sale this fender cost
$6, normally it was close to $10.
I noticed the word “vinyl” on the label referring to the plastic
the fender was made of. This prompted me to do further
research into this material that worked so well for this
application.
The new air bladder is in place, it worked well but I kept wishing
to increase the altitude of the rocket. My approach to that was
to trying to change the air bladder hoping for greater altitude on
the rocket.
I tried a larger boat fender hoping for more altitude. It would be my
estimation that altitude might be only slightly higher, the smaller
unit appears to be a better value.
How I Attached the Tubing
At the spot where there is a small valve is where I drill a hole for
the tubing.
Plastic fitting is used to attach clear plastic tubing.
I used a hole saw drill bit to drill ¾” hole. Hole saw bits have
a round steel cylinder with saw teeth that are used for
cutting holes larger than drill bits that would normally fit in a
drill.
I wrapped the plastic insert with tape for a tighter fit and then used
hot glue to seal up the hole.
The clear plastic tubing needed a little stretching to slip on to
the plastic insert.
On the larger boat fender I used a longer length of the plastic tubing
which is a good idea to get the launcher further away when launching.
More About Vinyl and Elasticity
The vinyl boat fender had good properties of elasticity. This means it has
the property to restore to its original shape after distortion. In this case it
is from stepping down on the fender with a foot that does the distortion.
I decided to take a new approach to increasing the launch height and change
the rocket instead of the launcher. From heavy paper I created a rocket by
wrapping the paper around the launcher tube and taping. Paper fins were
taped to the bottom of the rocket. The nose of the rocket was created by
slitting the paper tube and putting more masking tape on the top of the tube.
Launching the rocket is so simple. First make sure the air bladder
has expanded back, then place the rocket over the launch tube.
Normally the boat fender air bladder comes back to shape rather
quickly, but if it is still partially deflated when the rocket is placed
over the PVC tube, the altitude will be much less.
Half sheet of bond paper is wrapped around ½” PVC pipe. Wrap the
paper carefully as it is rather stiff and tends to wrinkle.
Keep working the paper tightly around the tube.
The bond paper tends to wrinkle in places, so it helps to rub the
paper as it rolls around the tube.
It will be easier to tape the rolled tube with sections of tape
instead of one long piece of tape.
Completed
paper tube.
Fins at the bottom of the rocket help give the rocket stability, that is
keep it moving in a straight path. A straight flight path is more efficient
and the rocket will achieve a higher altitude. Fins can be made from the
card stock paper, tabs are bent in the paper and the fins are taped to
the body tube.
Most of the rockets I have constructed utilized three fins spaced evenly
around the body tube. I did build one rocket with only two fins that did
appear slightly less stable during launch . For an experiment I launched
one rocket with no fins, it did not get very high and tumbled to the
ground.
I draw one pattern for a fin on card stock paper with extra
material for support tabs.
After cutting out the first fin, I trace around it for the other fins,
normally I use three fins.
Use a straight edge to create the fold in the paper for the tabs.
Work the paper over until you have a nice 90 degree bend.
Cut slits in the section of paper that was bent up.
Bend half the tabs to the other side. Looking straight down
at the fin it should look like this.
I apply the tape to the tabs and then place everything on the
body tube at once, maybe another method will work better for
you.
Press the tabs and tape to the body tube making sure
the fin is pointing straight and that the fins are spaced
evenly around the body tube.
This was an experiment
in using only two fins
instead of three.
Launching a rocket with
no fins tumbles on the
way down. The rocket
does not get very high
either due to unstable
flight path.
Without a shocking absorbing nose, the rocket tube will begin to
buckle when it hits a hard surface.
Parts used to make “shock-absorbing” nose. Plastic from a
bag is crumpled up for the padding and two layers of the
same plastic cover it to make a dome shape.
Cover the top end of the body tube with tape to keep the padding
from being pushed down farther into the body tube.
With the two layers of the plastic stacked together, press the
plastic wad into the center.
Work the plastic wad and the plastic covering on top of
the tape ledge so that it make a nice dome shape.
Then tape the plastic covering to the body tube.
The Nose of the Rocket
I tried to make a rocket that looked like a space shuttle using white
paper and foam plate material.
The space shuttle on the launch pad. The altitude obtained
was pretty good but not as high as lighter rockets with less
drag.
Space Shuttle coming down at steep angle, it never really
glided on the return trip.
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