Rocketry Launch No.1

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?