Designing and Building Rocket #1

In class we are doing rocketry. Before we could design we had to do some research on what type of model will give us the best design, so we got to researching. Some things that I learned during our research are the forces acting on a rocket when it flies, and what kind of design has the best chance of withstanding the air pressure that we will be applying. 

After the research was finished we had to do a Google Drawing, where we had to carefully plan out how we were going to build it, whether we wanted a thin or thick design, or a long or short nosecone. We decided to go with a sharp long nosecone and a sleek body for a more aerodynamic design. We had to do a lot of research to get the design right, but in the end it turned out pretty good. We argued a lot for what design to do, but eventually we agreed on a pretty good design, and I hope the results are good.

During the building process we had to first create the body. To create the body we took a thin pipe and wrapped thick construction paper around it that we taped. After that was done, we had to make our nosecone and then put it on the rocket all while doing what we had planned before. After we made the nosecone we made a template for our fins and then cut, and glued the cardboard. While we were building the rocket, we had to compromise and stray from our design a little bit. One example of this is that in the design we had put a really long and really thin cone, but we ended up just doing a medium size cone.

Collaboration. Being a group project, this project requires a lot of collaboration. During this project’s designing stage we argued a lot, but during research we did not. While building our group argued but not very much, and we actually got a lot done, My thought is that we argued because we all have very strong opinions, but when we do work together we do well. Overall, our group was pretty good but in the future I think we could work more pleasantly.

Us hot gluing the fins

 

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