Month: October 2017

HOME of the BRAVE Question

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In class we are reading a book called HOME of the BRAVE. We have had a lot of class discussions and questions. One of our questions is: Gol is a cow, but Katherine Applegate (author of Home of The Brave) also uses her as a symbol. How does Gol represent Kek’s past, present, and possibly his future?

Gol represents Kek’s past because in his past he used to herd cattle and Gol symbolizes a whole herd of cattle because one cow is like one hundred when you want it so badly. Gol represents Kek’s present because it is showing Kek’s love and hope for his family because Gol is one of Kek’s only connection to his old life. Gol also represents Kek’s future of what he might become. Gol is starting in a “new land” where he will be happy. This represents what Kek can become. Kek can start new in America. “A new land”…

Picture from: goodreads

Rocketry Launch No.1

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In school we have been doing rocketry. Yesterday we had our first launch and everyone was excited. We have recorded data and made graphs to see which groups rocket went the highest, and which groups went the lowest.

Based on the data, Blasting Rockets (My Group) launched lowest yesterday in the field with ≈ 20 m, and J.E.X.L launched the highest with 57.5 m.

Our rocket didn’t go that high compared to other rockets. Why didn’t our rocket go high? The reason is that, the rocket had a 2nd bottle extension.* The extension was to attach the nose cone. We thought it wouldn’t add that much weight because it was hollow. Our hypothesis was incorrect. The extension made the rocket top heavy which made it go in a U shape*. We also only had 2 wings, which made it unbalanced. The mix of those was bad. The reason it was bad is, when we only had 2 wings it leaned a little towards the right. The extension made it fall even more towards the right and eventually it turned completely over and fell at a very low height.

In the second launch, I think we should take away the extension and add more wings. Adding wings will add stability, and taking away the extension will take away that extra weight.

I learned there are different ways to launch water rockets. At first I only knew about the liquid nitrogen and the cork and base. I learned there is also a launch pad with a bike pump. The launch pad is the one we used.

I only have one question now; Will our rocket go the highest after the revisions?

 

Rocketry Measurement Tools

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This is the clinometer we will use in class.

Today in class we learned about clinometers and trundle wheels.

The clinometer measures the angle something is a and then you convert it in to meters. The way it works is, there is a little eyehole, and you follow the object you are measuring, up until you reach it’s end. When you reach the end you pull a trigger and a built in arrow will point to some number on the bottom of the clinometer. After that you let the trigger go and see what number the arrow is pointed to. Whatever number it is, is the degree of the angle.

 

 

 

 

 

The trundle Wheel measures meters. There is a wheel that you put on the ground and walk with. Each time you pass a meter the trundle wheel will click. You count the number of clicks you hear to know you’ve passed a meter.

This is the trundle wheel we will be using in class.

We will be using these because we need to measure how high our Rockets go in Rocketry and how far we are when we are measuring the angle.

Rocketry

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In class we are doing a rocketry project. We build and design our own rockets. We work in groups of four. This is a little frustrating for me sometimes, because, I am used to building alone. So far, we have done/made, Inspiration boards, brainstormed ideas for our designs and made prototypes. I am surprised with all the freedom we have with this project. I have heard from different classes that say they have to use specific materials.

I’m proud of the ways we thought of materials and how we thought of ways to make the rocket fly higher. I’m also proud of how we included these ways when we were thinking about materials and shapes. I’m looking forward to putting everything together and building our rocket that we are determined to get high.

I already had an interest in rocketry and the fact that we got to do it in school made me ecstatic. At first I thought it was going to be sort of competitive but after watching the old rocketry video, I realized groups actually help other groups to make their rockets great. This rocketry unit has been super fun and I can’t wait to launch our rockets.