Rocket Launch - Final Report Karina Gonzalez Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science A2 Mr.

Hendricks

ABSTRACT: The class launched a rocket out in the field to measure the height of the rocket, but before that, they predicted the heights for 2 rockets. The predicted heights were; for the Blue Rocket with a B-6 engine was 190 meter, and for the White Rocket with a C-6 engine was 276 meters. After launching the rocket and calculating the height of both rockets they found that the Blue Rocket with a B-6 engine was 87 meters and the height for the White Rocket with a C-6 engine was 310 meters. Some source of errors could have been when the class was measuring the angles of the rocket when it was being launched. INTRODUCTION: Part of physics is kinematics, the study of motion and forces. The students got to do a hands-on rocket launch to find the height of real launched rockets. They used impulse, which is the amount of force times the time, momentum, which is the product of the mass and velocity of an object, drag force, which is how much air is resistance is on the object. Know the different types of engines they were able to find the total time the rocket was burning. A B-5 engine has an impulse of 5 Newtons; the letter tells you how much impulse the rocket has, they start with the letter A which has an impulse of 2.5 Newtons and every letter it increases, the amount of impulse doubles so a B would have 5 Newtons, a C rocket has 10 Newtons and so on. The impulse momentum theorem is used to find the impulse without using the force and time. Instead they used mass and velocity. M = mass of rocket Impulse= MVi MVf Vi = Initial Velocity Vf = Final Velocity

ENGINE THRUST ANALYSIS: Using the equation: Impulse = force X time -the class launched a rocket attached to a cart track with padding on the front of the rocket to calculate the engine thrust. The padding in the front was so it wouldnt fly out and used as sensor to let the digital force gauge know when to start timing the rocket and measure the force applied by the rocket onto the padding. After setting up the rocket, with an igniter inside cover with a plug so the igniter doesnt fall off, in cart track, the class went outside and fired the rocket. Before they fired the rocket they zeroed it out so they could be as accurate as possible. The CBL calculated 50 samples for 5 seconds every tenth of a second. After it was done the class transferred the data into their calculators and used the information gathered to find average force, to find the force of the rocket, and using the time and average force they found the impulse for that second. After calculating the average force they calculated the impulse. The cart track looked the picture on the left and the rocket looked like the picture on the right. The padding was different.

This is what our CBL looked like:

This is what our table looked like when we found the average force and impulse: BURN TIME 0.5-0.6 0.6-0.7 0.7-0.8 0.8-0.9 0.9-1.0 1.0-1.1 1.1-1.2 1.2-1.3 1.3-1.4 1.4-1.5 1.5-1.6 1.6-1.7 1.7-1.8 1.8-1.9 1.9-2.0 2.0-2.1 2.1-2.2 2.2-2.3 2.3-2.4 2.4-2.5 AVERAGE AVERAGE FORCE 1.5 N 6.5 N 7.5 N 5.5 N 4.5 N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 4N 2.5 N 4.04 N IMPULSE .15 N/S .65 N/S .75 N/S .55 N/S .45 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .4 N/S .25 N/S 8.4 N/S

Knowing the average force and impulse the class concluded that the type of rocket that was launched was a B4. After finishing the table, the class had to graph it. It looked like this:

THRUST FORCE IN TIME

8 7 6 5 FORCE 4 3 2 1 0 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 BURN TIME 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

DRAG FORCE (AIR RESISTANCE): Part of launching rockets is also finding air resistance on the rocket. To find the drag force, or air resistance, the class hung a toy rocket on 2 strings inside a wind tunnel. A student measured the angle of which the rocket hung while the wind was blowing on it. Knowing how to find the force of an object hanging from two ropes the class was able to find an equation to find the drag force and drag coefficient using the wind speed, drag force, the angle of which the rocket hanged, the mass, gravity, cosine, and sine. They equation the found was

The angle of rocket was 41 with a mass of .035 kg, with a wind speed of 69.5 knots or 36 m/s. With these numbers the class found the drag force and drag coefficient. ( ) FD=.15 & KD=1.4 x 10-14

This is what the Wind Speed Meter looked like and the wind tunnel with the rocket inside:

The wind tunnel had a honeycomb shape inside which prevents swirling currents in the tunnel and the wind comes out evenly. NUMERICAL MODEL: After finding the drag force and drag coefficient of the rocket, the class made predictions of how high 6 different rockets would go. Provided by the teacher, the students filled out a table where using the mass of the rocket and drag coefficient they found the average thrust, drag force, average net force, average net impulse, initial velocity, final velocity, average velocity, initial height, and final height during that tenth of a second. To Find: -Average thrust: thrust1 minus thrust2 and divide that by 2. -Drag Force use the equation: FD=KD x V2

-Average Net Force: take the average thrust (mass x gravity) - FD -Average Net Impulse: net force x change in time -Initial Velocity is just the previous rows final velocity. -Final Velocity: take initial velocity + (net force x change time) and divide by the mass -Average Velocity: take the initial and final velocity, add them up and divide 2 -Initial Height: its just the previous rows final height. -Final Height: initial height + average force x change in time The students only had to do the first 2 rows and provided by the teacher, the students completed their predictions by using an excel spread sheet on the computer for all 6 different rockets. The following table is one example of the 6:

To find the predicted height from excel spreadsheet, the students looked in the final height column and went down as it keeps increasing and the highest height is the predicted height for that type of rocket, that is because after that the numbers start to decrease, which means the rocket is going back down. Here are the predicted heights for all 6 different rockets: A Engine B Engine C Engine White Rocket 5.81 M. 95.66 M. 276 M. Blue Rocket 14.30 M. 190 M. 413.11 M.

If there were to be no air resistance and wanted to know the new heights, using the excel spread sheet, instead of putting in the drag force, or air resistance, it simply wouldnt be in there. That way the calculations dont include the drag force acting on the rocket. FLIGHT RESULTS: After doing the predictions, the class launched the rockets outside. They only launched a White rocket with a C6 engine and a Blue rocket with a B6 engine. The class used one of the students height, from the ground to his eyes, which was 1.5 m. They went outside to the soccer field and place the rocket in the middle. Three other students, each going a different direction, went 60 meters away from the rocket. When the class fired the rockets the three students measured the angle of the rocket after the two rockets were fired. After the class fired the two rockets having the other three students measure the angles, they went back inside and did some geometry to find the height of the two rockets. We first found the average of the three angles measured by the students for each of the rockets: Blue Rocket: White Rocket: Angles: 60 20 84 Angles: 67 82 88 Average: 55 Average: 79

Next the class found the height by using the averaged angles and the distance of how far away the three students were away from the rocket.

Solving For This Side (opposite) 55 60 meters Tan = tan55= 60tan55= opposite 87= opposite

After doing this step we added the students height, 1.5 meters, and got 87 meters as the final height for the Blue rocket. We did the same thing for the White rocket. Tan = tan79= 60tan55= opposite + 1.5 = 310 meters.

The class added the 1.5 meters because they did not measure the angle from the floor. They used a typical height, not too short not too high. CONCLUSION: In comparison to the predicted height and the actual heights, the class got close to the predicted height of the white rocket which its predicted height was 276 meters and the final height was 310 meters. But for the blue rocket the predicted height was 190 meters and we got 87 meters, not even 100. Some sources of error could have come from when the three students measured the angles. Some of the angles didnt make sense, but we used them anyways. REFLECTION:

I learned how it makes a difference if theres air resistance or not. I didnt have a clue how to do this project and now I can help someone who doesnt know. I learned the equations that were needed.