Rube Goldberg Video
Rocket Project
Rocket Data Table
Project Reflection:
The rocket exhibition went great for our group, our rocket flew a lot better than we expected, and the rocket didn’t get completely destroyed like some of the other group’s rockets. Our parachute even deployed perfectly. Also, our group worked greatly together, we listened to each other’s ideas and even built two rockets instead of one. The second rocket was basically just us saying “we can build a better rocket than the one we have now.”, and our group worked greatly together in assembling both rockets. If I could go back and change something about the project, I would change the design of our final rocket. Our final rocket was very short, which lead to it being very inaccurate during the exhibition, but I was still very happy with how it turned out. Some advice that I would give to next year’s builders is that they should really focus on making their rocket tough, or making a parachute that works, because nothing is more disappointing than seeing a rocket that has had hours upon hours put into it get destroyed when it hits the ground at a great speed.
This project has made me realize how much I enjoy seeing the process of things being built from scratch. I loved seeing how all of these students turned simple water or soda bottles into rockets that reached the height of up to ~900 ft. After looking back at this project, I really hope that later in the year of even in other years we will be able to do a project that is this fun.
The rocket exhibition went great for our group, our rocket flew a lot better than we expected, and the rocket didn’t get completely destroyed like some of the other group’s rockets. Our parachute even deployed perfectly. Also, our group worked greatly together, we listened to each other’s ideas and even built two rockets instead of one. The second rocket was basically just us saying “we can build a better rocket than the one we have now.”, and our group worked greatly together in assembling both rockets. If I could go back and change something about the project, I would change the design of our final rocket. Our final rocket was very short, which lead to it being very inaccurate during the exhibition, but I was still very happy with how it turned out. Some advice that I would give to next year’s builders is that they should really focus on making their rocket tough, or making a parachute that works, because nothing is more disappointing than seeing a rocket that has had hours upon hours put into it get destroyed when it hits the ground at a great speed.
This project has made me realize how much I enjoy seeing the process of things being built from scratch. I loved seeing how all of these students turned simple water or soda bottles into rockets that reached the height of up to ~900 ft. After looking back at this project, I really hope that later in the year of even in other years we will be able to do a project that is this fun.
Rocket Log:
Day 6, Entry 1
Today we finished making the pressure chamber and nose cone for our rocket and we even started to make the parachute.
Day 7, Entry 2
Today we got to test launch our rocket with Dave’s fancy new launch pad, the rocket went pretty high but was terribly inaccurate because we don’t have any fins on our rocket.
Day 8, Entry 3
Today we finally added the fins onto our rocket. The fins are pretty terrible though, we made them out of manilla folders and just slapped them onto the rocket with caulk. We also made our rocket longer so it would be more accurate when it’s flying.
Day 11, Entry 4
Today we finished our parachute, which unfortunately was torn when we were trying to attach it to the nose cone, but no worries, we made another that is slightly bigger than the first.
Day 13, Entry 5
Today we got to test launch our rocket again, it didn’t do very good though, it’s way too heavy for it to fly higher than ~50 ft. Also, one of our fins broke off and we aren’t even sure if we should re-attach it, (we kind of just want to blow up our rocket).
Day 15, Entry 6
Today we did some test launching again, Max and I keep trying to blow up our rocket by making Dave put 90 psi into our rocket, but since we don’t have the high pressure shims, the air just keeps escaping from the rocket before it even launches.
Day 18, Entry 7
Over the weekend, we built a second rocket. The pressure chamber is only 1 2 liter bottle and the nose cone is only half of another 2 liter bottle, the fins are made out of foam board too. But the best part about it is the parachute, I spent about an hour making it and I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Day 19, Entry 8
Today we got to test launch our rocket, we even gave it the longest name ever and we even made it an awesome 4 foot long banner. When we launched it, our parachute deployed a little early, but still worked like a charm, I can’t wait until we can launch it at the exhibition.
Day 6, Entry 1
Today we finished making the pressure chamber and nose cone for our rocket and we even started to make the parachute.
Day 7, Entry 2
Today we got to test launch our rocket with Dave’s fancy new launch pad, the rocket went pretty high but was terribly inaccurate because we don’t have any fins on our rocket.
Day 8, Entry 3
Today we finally added the fins onto our rocket. The fins are pretty terrible though, we made them out of manilla folders and just slapped them onto the rocket with caulk. We also made our rocket longer so it would be more accurate when it’s flying.
Day 11, Entry 4
Today we finished our parachute, which unfortunately was torn when we were trying to attach it to the nose cone, but no worries, we made another that is slightly bigger than the first.
Day 13, Entry 5
Today we got to test launch our rocket again, it didn’t do very good though, it’s way too heavy for it to fly higher than ~50 ft. Also, one of our fins broke off and we aren’t even sure if we should re-attach it, (we kind of just want to blow up our rocket).
Day 15, Entry 6
Today we did some test launching again, Max and I keep trying to blow up our rocket by making Dave put 90 psi into our rocket, but since we don’t have the high pressure shims, the air just keeps escaping from the rocket before it even launches.
Day 18, Entry 7
Over the weekend, we built a second rocket. The pressure chamber is only 1 2 liter bottle and the nose cone is only half of another 2 liter bottle, the fins are made out of foam board too. But the best part about it is the parachute, I spent about an hour making it and I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Day 19, Entry 8
Today we got to test launch our rocket, we even gave it the longest name ever and we even made it an awesome 4 foot long banner. When we launched it, our parachute deployed a little early, but still worked like a charm, I can’t wait until we can launch it at the exhibition.
Rocket Project Conclusion
In this conclusion, I will describe the process that our group went through to do all of the calculations that ended up in our group’s data table. First, the group that was measuring the angles went to a predetermined distance of 53m away from the launch pad. When the rockets launched, they used an inclinometer to get the angle of the rocket when it reached its max height. Our rocket’s angle was 21 degrees, so we used the tangent function to calculate how high our rocket was at its max height. Our rocket went 20.24m. Next, we figured out what our rocket’s average velocity throughout the whole flight was by taking the distance our rocket traveled in total and dividing that by the total air time. Our rocket’s total flight time was 6.57 seconds. Next, we figured out what our rocket’s real and theoretical hang time by using the equation ½ acceleration due to gravity and then doubling it. Our rocket’s theoretical hang time was 4.06 seconds. We then found the % error in flight time by subtracting our actual flight time by our theoretical flight time, then dividing that answer by the theoretical flight time and finally multiplying the answer by 100 to get the % error in flight time. Our rocket’s % error was 61%. The percentage error was high due to our rocket's parachute deploying and adding several more seconds of air time. Overall, the rocket project went great for our group, we had fun, we worked well together, and we were very happy with the outcome of our rocket and how well it did at the exhibition.