This project has given us the opportunity to create something we are proud of while teaching us the concept of acceleration, velocity and the way it physically flies. It had a good way of teaching us how math and physics can be observed in the real world. The position of our rocket is the height above ground which is constantly changing as soon as it launches. While velocity is the change in position given time which can be calculated using distance/time. This has a direct effect on the position as the velocity sends the rocket into motion in an upward direction. When the speed of velocity is constantly changing, the visual result alters the frames in which we see the rocket. For example, as the wind speeds up, that is a factor that sends the rocket in a different direction obviously changing the position or frame we see the rocket in. Lastly, acceleration is the rate of change in velocity given the rocket's time in place. After the rocket launch, you’d think this is the most acceleration the rocket has experienced but in reality, it’s battling the drag pushing down on it. Once the rocket reaches it’s max height and can’t take anymore of the drag, it begins to accelerate downward due to the pull of gravity at 9.8 m/s. This drastically changes the position and velocity as the speed increases in a completely different direction from where it started. A quadratic function is the curve made of a mirror-symmetrical curve being approximately u-shaped (parabola). This has a very close relationship with projectile motion because parabolas are formed based on the path of a projectile object. These graphs and curves are possible because of the acceleration and force of gravity during and after the projectile.
The design process all starts with the blueprint and your idea of a well working rocket. The first day we had to decide whether or not we wanted to splice 2 or more rockets in order for it to have viable drying time. We decided to just use a single smart water bottle, so until we got our bottle we worked on the other important aspects of our rocket. These being the fins, nose cone and parachute. We decided to use corrugated plastic for the fins because it’s a sturdy and easily accessible material. Then we used a circular piece of a trash bag for the parachute which was then assembled by tying 8 pieces of string equally across the trash bag. To finalize it, we taped the parachute to the bottom of the bottle underneath the nose cone which was made out of a transparency sheet. And taped on the 3 fins with fun chrome tape.
Final Rocket
Poster
Personal Reflection
At the beginning of this project, my partner and I were clueless as to what style of rocket we wanted to make as well as the requirements which resulted in a fair amount of research. We struggled the most with decision making and trying to come up with ideas that would give our rocket an advantage. We watched example videos and investigated the resources provided to us and took at least a day trying to decide whether or not we wanted to splice. With that being said, we knew that we would want more time to finalize it which we didn’t feel the splicing process would give us. Which lead us to just use one bottle. We also needed more time considering we didn’t have the most important materials until the thursday of that week. Throughout the test launching week, we found that our nose cone kept the parachute from deploying but once we fixed that our whole parachute ended up breaking. During this time we had to remake both the nose cone and parachute to cooperate with one another.
Our biggest success was our first test launch in my opinion because it went way higher than expected (123 ft) which was because at that time, we had a sturdy nose cone. Although the parachute didn’t deploy during this launch which was a rule if you wanted to be automatically counted in the final competition. Another aspect of our rocket that we were very proud of was the fins because they were aesthetically pleasing as well as having a high quality function. This was achieved by using material that we knew would be easy to access and do the job at the same time. Lastly, during the exhibition our rocket didn’t have much height but the parachute deployed so therefore we ended the rocket project with a well working parachute which counts for something.
The biggest turning point during this project was the first day we test launched because we knew there was a high possibility of something going wrong even if a part of the rocket worked really well. There were things that we had to change about our rocket after that first test day and in the long run it changed our whole perspective on our rocket. We made decisions that didn’t necessarily improve our rocket but there was no way for us to know that for sure. But it taught us to pay more attention to precision for future projects and assignments in general.
I developed a deeper understanding of perseverance throughout this project because we were constantly changing the rocket and even when it felt pointless, there was always a positive motivation that reminded us to keep trying to make it better. This is obviously a good quality to have because it heightens your expectations of yourself to do the best you can in any situation whether it’s academically or personally. Perseverance is a mindset that everyone has but some choose to use it differently than others. It can feel like you’re doing your best at a hard time while on the other hand it can be a way to push yourself to feel better and do better in school and life in general. In future projects and personal situations, I will continue to remind myself that you want to make something (or a choice) that you will be proud of after the fact. Something that you can look back on and want to tell everybody about.
I’ve thought about this final question over and over again because I want to know what I could’ve done differently to make me more proud of our rocket. And I've come to decide that it would’ve given our rocket more of a benefit if we were to make the nose cone out of something more legit given the lightness of the transparency sheet and how easily it fell down everytime. I also would’ve liked to make it more colorful and presentable rather than a few pieces of tape on a plastic water bottle. There’s always a way to bring something up to its highest potential which I will keep in mind when creating a visual project in the future. Overall, I can say that I enjoyed the process of creating my rocket and seeing how everyone else decided to go about their rocket making process.