🚀 Rocket Project Report 🚀

Yav Physics Rocket Project

Materials:

• 2 2.0 Liter Soda Bottlers, $1.09 each
• 5-Star Binder (wings), $10.29
• Sponge (padding), $4.99
• String, $6.29
• Duct Tape, $6.00
• Garbage Bag (parachute), $0.45
• Paper folder (for cone), $3.99
• Plastic Egg (for cone), $0.07

Procdedures:

We started off with two soda bottles which we split into three parts: the fuel vessel, a holder, and a compartment designed specially for the egg. The fuel vessel is a whole bottle, while the holder is one with its top and bottom cut off. The special compartment was the top and bottom of the soda bottle taped together to create a spherical shape. 

Next we created the wings. We did this by printing out a design that looked aerodynamic, and traced it onto an old plastic binder. We used duct tape to attach the wings, but while doing so we tried to bend the wings into an angle with extra tape. 

Finally we created the cone by taking a paper folder and wrapping it into a conical shape. Then one half a plastic egg was attached to the end of it, so it would not be sharp. We created a small parachute that attached to the egg compartment. This was placed inside the "holder" cell, while the parachute was gently placed into the cone for take off. After placing all these things together and filling up the fuel cell 1/3 of the way with water, we were ready to launch.

Results: 

The Launch

Overall, our rocket performed ok.

On the test runs the day before, the egg compartment did not seperate. Because of that I was a little nervous going into Launch Day. When we first set it to launch, there was a problem with the cone. We had to fix it, and then were able to launch. We set it to the appropriate PSI and launched. Our rocket was not high-flying, not quite reaching the minimum flight. However, the egg compartment seperated and the parachute worked well.
Many rockets flew higher than our's. However, many just hurdled back down to earth, destroying their eggonaut. Not many had their egg compartments deploy, but those that did all survived. None of our equiment failed, and no user errors occured for us. Weather was quite clear, but a little windy, which I believe did not help our rocket fly high. 

Conclusion:

I do not believe our rocket was aerodynamic enough. It was a little too chunky all around, and I think that hindered it from going as far as possible. Next time, I would create a more streamlined cone, and get rid of the ball of tape on the outside of the rocket. As well, the egg compartment seperated too easily. If the compartment had not seperated until later, the rocket's height would have been much higher. We could have done this by sticking the compartment in a little deeper into the holder. I think the rocket was the right length, and making it any longer would add unnecessary weight. 

Calculations:

Free Body Diagrams