On October eighteenth, my team, the New Newtons, had our second launch. I think that our second launch was really good, even though when we checked how high our rocket went, it was lower. I think this happened because two of our fins were wiggly, so we pulled them off and our teacher aide glue it back on, except one side of our rocket had no fins, so the fin placement was really important. Our variable change was our nose cone, because it was really dirty. So we made it pointier on our second nose cone, and I think it turned our really well. On launch two, it was really windy and cold. I think the wind affected the launches for every group. I think that the clinometer readings could be wrong, because it was really chilly, so the clinometer readers might have moved a bit while taking the reading. The hardest part about the whole entire process was that when making the changes, everyone’s decision counted, it wasn’t just my decision, which was pretty hard for me. This is my YouTube video of my model rocket launches.
I did a rocket launch today. I think it was pretty fun. I was nervous that my rocket might blow up, but I put six layers of tape to connect the nosecone with the body. In the beginning, we had to do research. I didn’t like it. It was boring to me. But I did like making the inspiration boards. My team made a logo with our team name, the New Newtons, on it. We put pictures and information that we thought would help us on the launch on our board. A few days before, we had to prepare and learn to use the tools that we’ll be using on the launch day. One of them was the clinometer. The clinometer looked like a protractor with an arrow, a button, and a handle. Mastering the clinometer was hard. I was afraid that I would fail to use the clinometer rightly when the launch day came. There was also another tool: the trundle wheel. The trundle wheel measured the distance between the clinometer readers and the rocket. It was very resourceful. The preparation was tricky, but fun. I had three jobs, but only one for my launch. I was the countdown person for my launch. I was really happy to have that job. But I also was a clinometer reader for the group 1,2,3 Blastoff! and was a data recorder for the group the 3 Engineers. After the launch, I really wanted to do it again. I never wanted to stop. My teacher said that it would take an hour minimum for all the rockets to launch, but instead, it took forty five minutes. I think my group worked really well. We didn’t fight. I had to keep on checking my clipboard to see when I was up. And after I did my first job, I almost forgot that my group’s rocket was going to launch, and nearly missed the launch. But good thing I checked my clipboard. It was very useful. We were allowed to bring our iPhones outside. Some people did. I recorded some of the launches for two people. I observed that even though our rocket was the smallest rocket, we went higher than a taller rocket. So I don’t think that the height of the rocket mattered. But we had eight fins, and I think that helped. I don’t think our rocket needs changes. Maybe more tape?