Monthly Archives: October 2019

Rocketry blog post #4

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My group launch our rocket that we worked so hard on. I think that we did a nice job. Maybe even better than last time. This is a unit that starts with dughing and that ends with launching. As fun as that sound today we will only be focusing on the launching park. Launching is my favorite part of this unit. Some imporvments could have been made to make my rocket even better that it is but overall I think my group did a great job on working together, building a rocket, and on launching! 

 

When it was our turn to launch I was the pumper. I pumped the air to 50. Then our countdown master counted down from ten ant the launcher pressed the button. Our rocket went shooting up into the air. The rocket went so high. The klanomiter readers took the reading. I think our rocket went about 35 digrees into the air. 

 

We added the neumbers of what the klanomiter readers got. Then we divided it by three. We got our chart and drew lines from the corner. Then we drew a line acros where the lines met. It was 47.5. Then I put it into feet. It went 155.8399. That was so high! I think my rocket went higher then the last launch, what an acomplishment!

 

In this unit there were some high and lows. My group sometimes dissagreed on parts for the rockets like the fins. My group agreed on a team name and a thin body and a pointy nosecone. Overall I think my group did very well. It was so much fun launching our rocket! I whish I could do this every year.

Rocketry blog post #3

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This is a unit that starts with designing and ends with launching. I know very exciting but we are going to focus on the designing part of this long fun prices. My group is the flying saucers, a team that is made out of four people. We have argued some but in the end we all come together and agree on an idea. If someone’s idea is not heard we give them a chance on another part of the project. My group was very confident in our rocket but there was a catch, we had to make one change to our new rocket. It was hard deciding because our previous rocket had done exceptionally well and we were afraid that if we made a change our rocket wouldn’t go anywhere. You can’t live in fear so we made quite a few changes to our rocket and we are almost positive that our rocket would do great. 

 

My group was so excited to build a rocket, but we didn’t forget that we had to change one thing. “ I think we should change the fins!” one of us said. “ I think we should change the nose cone!” someone else said. “ I think we should change nothing!”. We decided to change the nose cone and make it pointier because then it would be “aerodynamic” as Tony says. We chose to make a change that would improve the rocket rather then make a change because it was required. It was very hard making the nose one painter because you have to turn the tip of it and if your hand slipped just a little bit your nose cone would come undone. After many attempts and fails we finally made a perfect shape for our nose cone so we taped it onto the rocket. It was hard to tape it on to the rocket because again we didn’t want it to come undone and also the tape would make it thicker and heavier so we had to place the tape carefully. 

 

It was finally time to design our rocket. We grabbed a sheet of paper and got to work. We began drawing a thin body because we saw in the past that the thick body does  not work as well as the thin one. Then we drew the nose cone, pointier than our other rocket. WEehad to write the explanation so of course Tony wrote, “ We want to make it aerodynamic!” We thought it was important to collaborate during this phrase because whatever we did now would impact how high our rocket went. 

 

Now it’s all about the building. We got a PVC pipe and a sheet of paper. We rolled the paper on the pipe and taped where the ends meet. Then we made the nose cone out of paper and taped it on. We got styraphone and cut out a fin shape. It was really hard to do because the stylophone was so thick. OUr teacher hot glued them on the rocket and we let it dry. Since it was hotglue it dried very fast. I wrote “ Flying Saucers” on the side of it and I colored the fins in purple.  I have a good feeling about our rocket.

 

I think my group is going to do a good job! Maybe our rocket will go really high agian. I like this experiance becuase I get to work with the people I dont usally work with. I think that one imporment I could make is being patiant. Whenever someone is not ready my group goes on without them. We are supposed to be a group, not a few people. If my group worked on that IM certan that we would of done 100 times better.,

Rocketry Blog post #2

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We launched our rockets that we made from scratch. I was surprised on how high our rocket went. We all worked together and we communicated well. We even made a team cheer. In this project I learned how to work as a team. You need to be open to others ideas and you need to work together, and you need to be part of the group. Meaning that you need to help out instead of talking to your friend in another group.  Building and launching your rockets is a team effort, and I learned that today. 

 

When it was my groups turn to launch we took pictures first. We all put our hand on the rocket, like a team. The the rocket placer, who was rachel placed it on the rocket. We used a thin rocket placer because the body was thin. Winston and tony were the pumpers. They pumped air into a tube that was connected to the pipe that help our rocket. The air pressure had to be at fifty. I was the countdown mast and the rocket retriever. I chose to be the rocket retriever because I wanted to get an up close look at where the rocket landed and how it landed. 

 

“ Are you ready?” I asked my group. They all nodded. I began the countdown. “ Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!” The rocket popped off the pipe and burst into the air.  It went so high it was almost out of sight. It slowly fell down where it was in sight again. It hit the ground and I ran as fast as I could to where it landed. The nose cone was buried into the ground. I pulled it out and it was all muddy. I looked behind me and so many other people wanted to see where it landed. 

 

Wow! Our rocket went so high. Next time we launch our rocket my group will make two fins instead of three, Maybe that will make the rocket lighter, so it will go even higher.  It was really fun counting down to one and watching the rocket launch. In this unit so far I learned teamwork. 

 

  

Rocketry Blog post #1

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Building a rocket is a process that starts from brainstorming, to launch. My group is the Flying Saucers.  When I first heard we were doing a rocketry unit I was really excited, but I didn’t know it would involve so much research and consideration. I thought that it would be easy and quick. I also thought that we would admittedly agree on ideas and NOT argue on ideas but I was wrong.  Building a rocket isn’t something you do on a rainy day, it’s something that you commit and work on a little bit at a time. 

 

First we had to do a lot of research.. We had information from Newton’s 3 laws, NASA, Brainpop, and so many more resources.  We created a google doc where we stored all of that information. Everyone in my group had their own section where they put their own thoughts. We also had a materials section where we put a list of materials that we thought we could use. We put on plastic, tape, paper, and more. We search for images that we could use like diagrams of parts of a rocket. We also got pictures of actual rockets launching. We decided on the name the Flying saucers at that time. We printed out all of our research and it was time to start designing our rocket!

 

When we designed our rocket it was a bit challenging. We were all fighting over EVERYTHING, like the fins. We decided to have a thin body a pointed nose cone and three fins. Three fins so everything was balanced, a pointed nose cone to the gravity wouldn’t go against it, it would go around it and a thin body so there was more friction. We kept on working on the design and then finally we were ready to start building it. 

 

First we got a PVC pipe to help mold our rocket. WE rolled the paper around it and taped it so it looked like a long tube. For the nose cone it was kind of complicated but I think we did a good job on it.  For the fins we cut it out of cardboard. It was so hard because it was so thick. Then we glue them on. We used hot glue because it dry quicker. 

 

Overall I think my group did a good job.At the beginning we argued a little bit on small things but in the end we made a great roceet.  I enjoyed working with the people that I don’t usually work with. I think that I learned a lot from the iss experience, for example sometimes you have to agree with an idea that you may not like.  I can’t wait until we launch our rocket this is only the first part!