Yesterday was launch #2 for our rockets. My group had the highest launch on launch #1, and we wanted to keep the record. We changed a lot, which we should not have done because our rocket was already great. Before the changes were made, the rocket had 6 small wings on top and 4 large ones on the bottom. The changes we made were to add two of the small wings on top because there was lot of space between some of the wings, and we wanted to make them even with the other wings. My group also added four more large wings on the bottom that were the same size and shape as the ones already there. The only difference between the wings were that the new ones were styrofoam, unlike the cardboard wings that were there already. We kept our 3D printed nose cone because it was very, very light, and the tip was sharp.
Rocket Launch #2
According to the data that I graphed, on the first launch the rocket launched 37.5 meters, and on the second launch, the rocket launched 27 meters. This means that the rocket launched 10.5 meters higher on the first launch than the second. The second launch was probably lower because the wings that we added must have put too much weight on the rocket, which creates drag.
A lot of the rocketry that we did has to do with Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. One example is that the 90 psi of air or water pressure that was applied to the rocket to make it launch has to do with the second law. The second law states that “acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass;” the force is the 90 psi of pressure, and the mass is the rocket. The third law (“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”) has to do with the rocket because when the arms that hold the rocket down open, the rocket has a reaction and launches.