Today with construction growing near completion of both rockets we started work on the engines that will be propelling our rockets towards the sky. The tube that you see on the outside of the engine is a tube that will be holding the engine in the rocket as it flies through the air.
Today we continued the process of constructing the rocket. Today I finally solved the problem we've been having with attaching the helicopter blades to the rocket while not breaching the body of the rocket with screws, that could stop the parachute from coming out when the rocket begins it decent.
How we solved this problem was using epoxy to attach the blades to the body. This provide a way of the blades to fold out as planned, but it wouldn't stop the parachute from ejecting from the body as planned. The duct tape you see below is simply holding the blades in place as the epoxy dries Today we continued to work on construction of our rockets. This proved to be a more tedious task then we originally thought, but we figured out solutions to combat what was going wrong
Today we tested different mixtures of "rocket candy". Which is made of potassium nitrate, and sucrose(sugar). We tested varying amounts of each. First we crushed each up into a fine mix using a mortar and pestle. We then proceeded to pour each mixture into a miniature frying pan. Then we cooked each mixture for varying amounts of time depending on how fast it took for each one to start smoking. We then scraped each mix onto a baking pan and put into the vent hood. We then managed to light each mixture on fire and test how long and furiously each one burned. One noticeable difference was that the flame was actually a pinkish color and burned more than the black powder did.
Today we tested our own rocket fuel. We mixed varying amounts of sulfur, potassium nitrate, and carbon(charcoal). We crushed each down into a very fine mix with a mortar and pestle. Then once they were crushed enough, we mixed them together into an evaporating dish. We then proceeded to put the evaporating dish in a . Then we lit the mixture with a lighter. We recorded our findings and found out that more potassium nitrate caused the mixture to be more reactive. The reaction was endothermic because it absorbed heat from the lighter to combust and ignite. The potassium nitrate is an oxidizer which helps fuel the ignition.
Today we tested the average velocity of our best straw rocket launched at different angles. We discovered the relationship between the launch angle and the average velocity. Which was that the lower the launch angle the higher the velocity because it went further at a faster speed.
Today we tested varying launch angles for our rocket to test at which angle our rocket would go the furthest. We found out that the lower the launch angle the further it would go because it has more distance to cover because it is at a straighter angle.
We created pages for our weebly site. We did this to explain what we did or will do for each step. Also so if anyone needs help at any part they could possibly look here.
Today we finished launching and measuring our rockets. My hypothesis was that my longer rocket would fly farther than my shorter rocket. My hypothesis was wrong, and my shorter rocket outdistanced my longer rocket by a lot. It was wrong because my smaller rocket pocketed more air which caused it to fly further. My longer rockets length caused it to tip over faster because of the weight of the nose.
Today we made a prototype of our prototype rocket. We used two straws and cut them to different lengths. then made a clay tip for each. then we made fins using index cards. We tested how far they would go using a launcher. Then we measured how far each went, we repeated this three times for each. Then we recorded the distance for each
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