Becca Leaman January 2, 2013 Rocket Report Honors Physics A4

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Abstract

This project was done to predict the height of two different rockets with two different engines. The predicted data turned out to be a lot more accurate than the measured data due to a number of estimations. The white rocket with the C6 engine ended up going less high than the blue rocket with the C6 engine, which is the same as the prediction because the white rocket is heavier than the blue. The results were obtained a number of ways, starting with first calculating impulse and finding the type of rocket, then learning how air resistance effects the rockets and calculation drag the coefficient and the drag force. All of the calculations were made and used to show the difference in the rockets and engines as well as making the predictions, and finally launching the two rockets and getting the final results.

Introduction

The purpose of this lab was to bring together all of the skills from the physics class so far. The activity was an opportunity for the students to do a hands on activity dealing with kinematics and dynamics. Kinematics is the study of motion, not to be confused with dynamics, which is the study of how forces effect movement. An important part of this project was finding the impulse, the momentum, the drag force, and the drag coefficient. Impulse is defined as the force multiplied by the time. Momentum is defined as the mass multiplied by the velocity, and it is how hard it is to stop a moving

Leaman 3 object. The drag force is the force of air resistance. The drag coefficient is the drag force divided by the terminal velocity squared. This project used two different rockets, and the predictions were made for two different engines. The engines used were B6 and C6 engines, meaning that the engines had different impulses and different thrust, or average force. The C engine has an impulse of 10 and an average force of 6 Newtons, because its a C6. The B6 engine had an impulse of 5 and also an average force of 6 Newtons. For the predictions the impulse momentum theorem states that Ft = P, or in other words impulse equals the change in momentum. This theorem is derived starting with impulse= force time. Because force=mass acceleration this is substituted in for force, making the equation: impulse= mass acceleration time. Acceleration = the change in velocity the change in time, so that is than substituted making the equation: Impulse= M (V t) t. the times then cancel leaving mass the change in velocity, or m(vf vi). Since momentum equals mass change in velocity, and impulse equals mass velocity, Impulse= the change in momentum, or Impulse=P.

Engine Thrust Analysis

The purpose of this lab was to determine what type of engine was attached to a rocket, by finding its impulse. Since air resistance had not been taught yet, the rocket could not be launched outside. What was done instead was attach the engine to a

Leaman 4 frictionless cart on a track. Also attached to the track was a digital force gage, or a force sensor. The force gage worked by recording the newtonsof force from the cart. If its a pulling force it gets recorded as a positive, if its a pushing force as a negative. Originally the ramp had been tilted, making it necessary to zero the gage, or set it equal to zero, so that the numbers didnt start negative, although they would still be recorded negative. Using the program Data Mate, on the calculator, the data could be set to record every .1 seconds. Using that a time graph was then set up, with force as a function of time. fifty samples were recorded, spanning a time of five seconds. Although triggering wasnt needed it was used. The trigger was set to start when the numbers from the force gauge decreased below negative one newtons. After that was set up it was time to fire the engine. Because its a rocket engine and when you light it the smell overpowers everything the engine could not be lit in the room, and would need to be fired outside, so before that was done it was necessary to learn how to light the engine.

It would be extremely un- smart to light a rocket using a match, so something else needed to be used instead to avoid an explosion. What was used was an igniter. An igniter is a wire covered in phosphorus. The wire sends an electric current, which then heats up to ignite the phosphorus, which is what is used in matches. The phosphorous then lights the engine. The igniter is hooked up to a 12-volt battery for power.

Leaman 5 Once that was figured out it was time to launch the rocket. After re-zeroing everything, the rocket was lit. there was so much force that the rocket ended up coming off the track, most likely skewing the data. Once the data was collected it was time for the calculations. The goal was to find the total impulse, meaning the average force was also needed. To find the average force of the rocket, all of the forces were added together, and then divided by the number of forces there were. Since the force didnt spike until .4 seconds that where the numbers being used started from, and since after 2.6 seconds they went down to essentially zero thats where they end. The sum was then divided by 23, because there were 23 samples recorded between .4 and 2.6 seconds. The sum of all the average forces was 77.59, which was then divided by 23, equaling 3.37. This means the average force is 3.37 Newtons. The total impulse was found by multiplying all the forces by the change in time, or .1 seconds, then adding them together, making the total impulse 7.75 newton-seconds. Using those results the engine would be a C4, but because the cart came off the track the numbers were measured less than they actually were. Meaning that if the numbers were measured correctly it should have been a C6 engine.

Drag Force (Air Resistance)

The purpose of this lab was to find the drag coefficient of a rocket using a wind tunnel. A wind tunnel is basically a big tube with a fan on one side and a rocket in the middle which blows wind from a fan.

Leaman 6 Before finding the drag coefficient it was necessary to get an equation that would make it easier to find. This was done by first simplifying the problem. Instead of using a rocket, it was changed to a ping-pong ball. The problem was set up like the following, with all the forces labeled:

Once this was done, it was easier to find the equation. As with most equations, it started with F= MA for both the x and y directions. For the x-direction it was found that Fd=Tsin, with Fd being the drag force. For the y- direction, it was T= mg cos. When the equations are substituted in for each other the resulting equation is Fd= mg cos sin, but to simplify sin cos= tan, making the equation: Fd= mgtan. Drag force is also equal to the drag coefficient multiplied by velocity squared, or Fd= Kdv2. Since it was the drag coefficient that was being solved for, the two equations were substituted into each other giving the equation: Kd= Fd v2. Once this was found, it was time to move to the next step using the wind tunnel. Before jumping to the next step, there were a few key things to note. The equation for the drag coefficient was found using only one string to support the pig- pong ball, but the rocket in the wind tunnel was being held up with two, meaning it would the weight in half, making Fd= mg 2tan. It was also important to note the honeycomb structure on the sides of the wind tunnel. This structure was in place so that there was no turbulence and the rocket would go straight.

Leaman 7 It was then time to start with the wind tunnel, which was used to find the angle since the mass of the rocket was already known as 34.9 g (.035 kg). Usually when the wind tunnel is turned on, it takes a few tries to get the rocket not to stick to the side of the tunnel, but for some reason during the trial the rocket took more than that. Because the rocket had trouble staying straight, the angle measured was very uncertain, but was about 20. The velocity in the wind tunnel was measured with an air speed gauge which measured to be about 38 m s. It was then time for the calculations. The drag force was found by plugging the numbers into the equation Fd= mg 2 tan. Making the equation: Fd= (.035 9.8) 2 tan20, which equals .0624. Using that the drag coefficient was found by plugging the drag force into Kd= Fd v2. Making the equation Kd=.0624 382, which equals 4 10-4. So while there was a lot of uncertainty it was concluded that the drag coefficient equals 4 10-4. After later revisiting the problem and finding a solution to the rocket sticking to the wind tunnel the calculations were redone giving a drag coefficient of 0.0002.

Numerical Model

This lab dealt with different rockets and how the different engines affected them. This lab used an excel spreadsheet to calculate the average thrust, the net force, the net impulse, the final velocity, the drag force, and the height. From there it could be seen how each rocket and each engine differently affected the numbers.

Leaman 8 Although the spreadsheet was programed to do the calculations, it was important to know how the spreadsheet did it, so before using the spreadsheet some of the calculations were done by hand. Fore the average thrust, the two thrusts were added up and then divided by two. To find the net force, the weight, or mg, as well as the drag force were subtracted from the thrust. For the net impulse the net force was multiplied by the change in time, which in this case was .01 newton- seconds. to find the final velocity the impulse was multiplied by the mass times the initial velocity, all divided by the mass. To get the drag force the drag coefficient was multiplied by the velocity squared, finding the drag coefficient to be 0.0002. Last the height was found by using the formula for distance equals rate multiplied by the time, the rate being the average velocity, the time being .01 seconds. Next it was plugged into the spreadsheet. Since rockets and engines were being compared, two different rockets were used, a white and a blue rocket with different sizes, as well as two different engines, a B6 and a C6. The different rockets had different masses and therefore would fly differently the blue rocket with no engine weighted .0417 kg and the white with no engine weighted .0701 kg. the white rocket with the C6 engine, which in total weighted .094 kg, went 238.44 m high at 7.5 seconds, which is highest point. With the B6 engine it wouldnt go nearly as high as with the C6 engine. With no air resistance the maximum height would increase dramatically because it doesnt have to push against anything.

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Flight Results

When the rockets were launched it was important to realize that the rockets did not go straight up, instead the rockets curved. Because of this it made it harder to do the calculations. Instead of trying to figure out the exact height with the rockets curving as they would realistically do, the calculations would be made assuming the rockets did go straight up. Since the angle would be different when the rocket goes straight up, as opposed to when the rocket curves, different people would need to be used to average out the angles. Three different people stood in three different sports using protractors to measure the angles. The people were supposed to be equal distance from the rocket, but somehow the distance was not measured correctly and the distance was unknown. Because of that the calculations were more difficult, but still possible. Assuming the rocket went straight up, to calculate the height it would be easiest to use trigonometry. Tangent would be most useful because once the distance was found and the angle was found that would make the two legs of a right triangle. Since the angles were not being taken form the ground and instead form the height of a person, it was important to add the height of the person to the final height. Two different rockets were used, meaning two different sets of data. The first rocket was the with rocket with a C engine, the second a blue rocket also with a C engine. Because the C engine was so much lighter it was predicted it would go a lot higher. First thing to do, before calculating the height, was finding the distance of each person from the rocket. The best way to do that was with the law of sines. It was

Leaman 10 measured that each person was at an angle of 120 form the rocket and 30 from each other. Each person was also 50 meters away from each other. For the law of sines it was set up so the angle from each person was divided by the distance of each person, equaling the angle from the rocket divided by the distance from the rocket, which is what was being solved for. When plugging in the numbers the equation looked like this: sin30 50 = sin120 X. when solving it was found that X=50sin120 sin30, which meant that x=86.60 meters. Knowing that it was then possible to solve for the height. Taking all three angles, the heights would be solved for separately then averaged. Because one person was directly under the rocket theyre measured angles were over 90 for both rockets, meaning it was impossible to use those angles, leaving only two usable angles to average.

For the white rocket the two measured angles were 59 and 46. So using tangent it would be set up as, height of rocket= distance tan + height of the person. Since the exact height of the person was unknown it was just assumed to be 1.7 meters. So for the first measure it would be: 86.60tan59 + 1.7= x, making x= 145.83. the second measure would be: 86.60tan46 + 1.7= x, making x=91.38. for the average, 91.38 and 145.83were added then divided by two, making the average height of the white rocket 118.61 meters, or 120 meteres with sigfigs.

Leaman 11 For the blue rocket the measured angles ere 63 and 50. Again using tangent it would be set up in exactly the same way as before, using the same height estimation. So the first measurement would be: 86.60tan63 + 1.7= x, making x= 171.67. The second would be: 86.60tan50 + 1.7= x, making x= 104.91. for the average 104.91 and 171.67 are added together and divided by two, making the average height of the blue rocket 138.29 meters, or 140 meters with sig figs. Since the distance from the person to the rocket was an estimation, as well as the height of the person, and because of the measured angles was unusable the numbers and probably extremely off. Which would make the prediction more accurate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the predicted results were most likely more accurate than the measured ones because of both the uncertainty of the angles as well as the uncertainty of the distance between the people and the launch site. In order to get better results the people should be an exact distance from the launch site. Also there should be more than three people measuring heights, just in case one of the measurements is unusable there will be others to use, and the more measurements taken the more accurate the measurements will be.

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Reflection

Through this project I learned a lot. I learned not only how to properly write a lab report and how to communicate the results formally, but I also learned a lot about rockets and the different pieces involved and how to get the different pieces. It helped me a lot to understand air resistance and the importance of it, as well as the importance of the small details that make a huge difference in the outcome of the project and the results. It was harder for me to understand the different parts of impulse, for example how when its constant it is one thing and when its not constant its another. Through this because I worked with impulse so much I gained a really good understanding of it and how it affects its surroundings. Overall I would say this project helped to catch my mistakes and look at really small details that affect the whole outcome completely.