Rocket Report

By: Matea Manuleleua

Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science

Honor Physics B3
Mr. Hendricks

Abstract
 The main purpose of this lab as whole was to choose several model rockets, and by using
the information that was taught throughout the year, and predict how high each of them will go
using multiple types of engines. Then by launching those rockets, measure the actual maximum
heights, and compare the measured data to the predictions to see how good they were. There
were many small portions of the project that added together to create the entire Rocket Lab,
some of those steps were: measuring a predicted and actual maximum height for each rocket
with different engines which is dependable on the thrust and drag force, and then testing the
predictions with the experiment.

Rocket and Engine Predicted Heights Measured Heights

Red and Yellow: 55.43m 68.6m

A Engine

B Engine 106.59m 117.4m

C Engine 213.33m 146.7m

Black and Gold: 30.59m 28.76m

A Engine

B Engine 87.32m 59.01m

C Engine 255.41m 138.87m

Introduction
The purpose of this rocket project was to gain a real experience that connects all of the
concepts that have been taught up to this point in the Honors Physics class. This project touches
key points in kinematics, dynamics, impulse, momentum, drag force, and drag coefficient which
were the main topics covered in the class.

Definitions:
 ● Kinematics: study of the mechanics that describe the motion of points, bodies, and
systems of bodies without discussing the cause
● Dynamics: mechanics that includes the study of forces and their effect on motion
(example: Newton’s Laws, Kepler’s Laws, Law of Conservation of Momentum,
etc.)
● Impulse: the change of momentum of an object when the object is acted upon by a
force for an interval of time
○ Change in momentum
○ Average impact force of a collision
● Momentum: quantity of motion that an object has, a.k.a. “mass in motion”
● Drag Force: a force that acts opposite to the relative motion of any object moving
with respect to air
○ Drag Force equation: Fdrag=kv^2
● Drag Coefficient: the constant in the equation above
Engines are required for Rockets to be launched in the air, but there are many different
types of engines… i.e. A, B, C, D, E, etc. The letter tells how much impulse there is in the
engine: A=2.5 Ns (Newton- second), B=5 Ns, C=10 Ns, D=20 Ns, E=40 Ns, etc. and the
Newton-seconds doubles every time. The letter is also followed by a number such as A8, C6, and
C4. The number represents the average force in Newtons, and so the difference between a C6
and C4 engine is how much force is being exerted from the engine. There is also a second
number, usually seen as C6-6. This last character represents the time delay of the parachute.
The Impulse Momentum Theorem was used to predict the height that the rockets would
fly. The Impulse Momentum Theorem states that the impulse given to an object is equal to the
change of momentum the object experiences. Impulse= force x time, which means that the force
acting on an object is multiplied by the time that the force acts on it. Impulse is equal to the
change in momentum but the change in momentum does not define impulse.

Derivation of the Impulse Momentum Theorem:

 In order to predict how high the rocket will go, numerical iteration was needed because of
air resistance. Air resistance was ignored before this project due to the level of difficulty it would
be to calculate air resistance without numerical iteration, but with the rockets’ high speed air
resistance just couldn’t be ignored. Trying to calculate every second accurately is difficult at the
high school level so in order to calculate data as accurately as possible the time intervals were
very short which would give good approximations.

Thrust Analysis
There were two purposes to this portion of the lab which are: 1) what engine was being
used and 2) to calculate how much thrust the engine puts out at each tenth of a second interval.
Equipment Set up:
The most important materials that were used were a digital force gauge, of course a
model rocket engine, and the cart it was strapped to. Other materials that were used such as: a
track, wire igniter, a battery, an empty box, a Computer Based Laboratory (CBL), a calculator,
and duct tape helped to make the actual experiment happen and a camera was used for pictures.
To set up the experiment the rocket engine was strapped to an empty juice carton so that it
wouldn’t move out of control when it was set off, then the juice carton was taped to the cart so
that both would stay in place. Putting the cart aside, the digital force gauge was taped to the track
so it stays in place when the rocket and cart add pressure against it. The CBL was connected to
the digital force gauge to collect data. To conduct the experiment the cart was placed on a bench
outside of the school so that the smoke wouldn’t stink up the classroom. The igniter was put into
the hole at the bottom of the rocket engine and connected to the battery. In order to be able to
collect data, the calculator was set to zero and it was through the Lab Pro Software on the
computer that we were able to view the data after the experiment. The cart was set on an incline
and so that’s why the calculator had to be zeroed out, it was then set to record data every 1/10of
a second for 10 seconds. Trigger mode was used in order for the calculator to automatically
record data on its own, it was set to trigger on -1 N of force being pushed from the rocket onto
the track and also recorded one second’s worth of data previous to the trigger to ensure that the
data was fully recorded for the whole 10 seconds. The digital force gauge sees pulling forces as
positive and pushing forces as negative numbers, now because the rocket will be pushing against
the gauge the data will have negative numbers. The engine was burned by the battery which was
connected to the igniter wire that was coated in phosphorus which is the same coat as a head of
match. The igniter was able to be flamed up when an electrical current ran through it.
Drawing of equipment set up:

Time (Seconds) Force (Newtons) Impulse (Newton- Seconds)

0.0 0.00 0.00

0.1 0.36 0.036

0.2 1.45 0.145

0.3 8.84 0.884

0.4 8.23 0.823

0.5 5.55 0.555

 0.6 5.40 0.540

0.7 5.46 0.546

0.8 5.06 0.506

Drag Force (Air Resistance)

In this section of the Rocket Project the goal was to determine what the drag coefficient
of the rocket was. The drag coefficient is needed in order to calculate the drag force which is
then `needed to calculate the air resistance on the rocket that will be launched. In the equation:
Fdrag= kv^2
the force of the drag is equal to the velocity squared times k which is the constant and
dependable on the size and shape of the object. Objects that contain sharp corners will have a
larger drag coefficient due to the air resistance being forced in different directions around the
sharp corners. Likewise, objects that contain smooth corners will have a small drag coefficient
because air resistance is smoothly pushed around the object. This discovery has lead to the result
of modern day vehicles’ smooth curved lines which resulted in better gas mileage due to less
resistance. Rockets move at such a high velocity that even if air resistance is ignored, accurately
predicting how high it will go is impossible.
For this section of the lab, the wind tunnel was positioned on a table so that a student was
able to read the angle of the rocket, that was hanging on a string from the top of the tunnel, being
blown by the wind.The student was able to read the angle because a protractor was taped to the
opposite end of the tunnel (on the outside) so that the student was able to read it from their side.
The students (there were multiple tries) were told to choose the angle that the string hovered
around the most, this was because the rocket was blown by such a strong force that it kept
moving, making it difficult for the student to pinpoint an exact angle, but gave a good small
range to receive a good approximation.
Visual representation of the wind tunnel that was used to conduct the experiment:
 The honeycomb-like structure that is located between the cones on each end of the wind
tunnel is needed to keep the wind flowing at a more calm and smooth manner resulting in a calm
rocket. Without the honeycomb structure, the wind will not be controlled which causes the rocket
to rebound uncontrollably making it difficult and close to impossible to read the angle
accurately.
.

Numerical Analysis
In this section of the lab, no experiments were done because the purpose of this section is
to predict the height and experiments are not needed. There are many factors such as the mass of
the rocket, drag coefficient, thrust, type of engine, etc. There are multiple engines that have an
effect on thrusts, heights, and value.
Three different rockets and three different engines were to make the calculations
presented in this report. The things that need to be calculated are the average thrust, drag force,
average net force, average net impulse, initial velocity, final velocity, average velocity, and the
final height.
Calculations:
● The average thrust is calculated by adding the thrust measured at the previous tenth of a
second and the thrust measured by the next tenth of a second and then by dividing that by
two so it looks likes this: ((𝑇ℎ𝑇1 + 𝑇ℎ𝑇2 )/2) .
2
● To find the drag force, use the drag force equation (𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 = 𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 × 𝑇 ).
● The average net force is calculated by taking the average thrust and subtracting it from
the weight of the rocket and the engine combined then subtracting that from the drag
force (𝑇ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 − 𝑇𝑇 − 𝑇𝑇 ).
● The average net impulse is the net force multiplied by the change in time (because the
impulse is equal to the momentum) (𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 × 𝑇𝑇).
● The initial velocity is the final velocity of the previous tenth of a second.
● The final velocity is the initial velocity plus the impulse and divided by the mass of the
rocket and the engine combined (𝑇𝑇 + 𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑇𝑇/𝑇).
● The average velocity is just the initial and final velocities added together and divided by
two ((𝑇𝑇 + 𝑇2 )/2).
● The final height can be found by adding the initial height and the average velocity then
by multiplying that by the change in time (𝑇𝑇 + 𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑇𝑇).
 Maximum Heights:

Engine Red/ Yellow Rocket Black/ Gold Rocket

A 55.43→ 55m 30.59→ 31m

B 106.59→ 107m 87.32→ 87m

C 213.33→ 213m 255.41→ 255m

Flight Results
There were several steps taken in preparation of the rocket launch and each step was
repeated before every launch. First, waddling was inserted into the rocket in attempt to protect
the parachute from burning. The rocket engine was then selected, recorded, and inserted into the
rocket. One end of an igniter was inserted into the hole at the bottom of the engine with a plug to
keep it in place, and the other end of the igniter was attached to a battery that was switched on in
order to ignite the engine at the end of the count down.The rocket was positioned on a vertical
rod to keep the rocket vertical during the first milliseconds of the launch.
To measure the height of the rocket, three people were stationed 50 meters from the
launch pad at different angles facing away from the sun. These people used protractors to
measure the angle at which the rocket reached its highest point (at the peek of the arch).
 The three observers and their positions:

The equation was derived using trigonometry and is most effective when the assumption
that the angle between the rocket’s flight path and the observer’s distance is a right angle was in
place. This means that the rocket was going straight up at a 90 degree angle, which in this case
was most definitely not (which is also why three people were needed and not one, to get the most
accurate data by averaging multiple readings). But assuming that the rocket was vertical, finding
the height is possible. Because the observer’s distance (50 meters) is opposite of the measured
angle (theta), Tangent of the angle is used to create the equation:ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑇ℎ𝑇 = 50 × 𝑇𝑇𝑇(𝑇) +
1.5 The 1.5 represents the average height of the measured angle.
Derivation of this equation:

Red/ Yellow Rocket (degrees) Avg.

“A” Engine 46 44 70 53

“B” Engine 65 65 70 67

“C” Engine 70 73 70 71
 Black/ Gold Rocket (degrees) Avg.

“A” Engine 26 28 32 29

“B” Engine 50 45 52 59

“C” Engine 70 70 70 139

Conclusion
The main reason for the differences between our measured and predicted data is that
when we had launched our rockets they were not completely straight but rather slightly tilted,
which caused the rocket to curve, making it more difficult than normal for the observers to get a
good approximation. Our predicted data was based off the assumption that the rocket would
launch straight up without any curves therefore making our measured data off because our
rockets had in fact curved. Another reason behind the differences is that it is very hard to make
rockets exactly alike, especially when they are smaller and not very expensive making some of
these engines slightly inaccurate.

Red/Yellow Predicted Measured

“A” Engine 55.43 → 55m 68.6 → 69m

“B” Engine 106.59 → 107m 117.4 → 117m

“C” Engine 213.33 → 213m 146.7 → 147m

Black/ Gold Predicted Measured

“A” Engine 30.59 → 31m 28.76 → 29m

“B” Engine 87.32 → 88m 59.01 → 60m

“C” Engine 255.41 → 255m 138.87 → 139m

 In order to get better results, the weather should be taken into more consideration because
due to the wind the rockets curved making it difficult to accurately measure. Better and more
advanced equipment could have been used to receive better calculations and measurements.

Reflection
What we had done in this lab seemed impossible at first but has helped to better
understand concepts that prior to this lab I was struggling with. Specifically, I struggled with
understanding and applying the math to what was happening in action right before my eyes. It
was hard to apply the mathematics and physics concepts to everyday things in my life. Because
of the struggle that I was having with the concepts in class previous to this lab, it made this lab
very hard to understand because we were pulling everything we learned into one single lab. To
overcome the difficulty of this lab, I studied the broken down concepts from before and really
paid attention to how they applied to the lab. With studying notes from before and trying to
really take notes for this lab that was detailed, I was able to better understand the concepts I was
struggling with.